Sam Prendergast enjoyed one of the most promising first starts of an Irish Rugby player in recent memory when he drove Ireland to a 52-17 win over Fiji last weekend.
The 21-year-old Leinster man had long been tipped as Johnny Sexton's long-term successor after a glittering underage career, but had only appeared for Leinster on twenty occasions coming into this Autumn Series Campaign.
Despite his lack of professional experience, Prendergast delivered a more-than-encouraging debut against Argentina that saw him close out a tight game and claim a three-point win. That debut earned the outhalf a first start against Fiji, where the 52 points Ireland racked up speak for themselves.
However, his promising start to life in green could have been very different after Prendergast was sin-binned and sent for a bunker review just eight minutes into the game vs Fiji for a dangerous shoulder to the head.
While the bunker didn't upgrade Prendergast's yellow card, owing to the low degree of danger in the reckless incident, plenty of fans and pundits felt the out half had got lucky.
𝐘𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝 🟨
Sam Prendergast off with a bunker review for a high challenge.#IREvFIJ | #AutumnNationsSeries pic.twitter.com/KpRRyecO1p— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) November 23, 2024
Nigel Owens clarifies Sam Prendergast yellow card
In the hours after the game Sam Prendergast came in for his fair share of criticism for the hit, with many people including Fiji head coach Mick Byrne unhappy that Prendergast was allowed to return to play.
Among the arguments that emerged post-match, was the claim that because Prendergast's shoulder was an act of foul play, mitigating factors didn't apply. In TNT's post-match coverage both Brian O'Driscoll and Ben Kay felt Prendergast was lucky to escape red and shouldn't have been the beneficiary of any mitigating factors.
However, appearing on Whistle Watch, legendary referee Nigel Owens clarified why that train of thought was incorrect, reaffirming that the degree of danger was the defining factor in what card should've been delivered.
We have foul play, what we also have here is an illegal action, and this is what has caused a lot of the debate between whether it should be a red or should be a yellow. Because the actions are always illegal, he goes in with his shoulder tucked in,..so mitigation does not play a part.
Does this reach the yellow-card threshold? Yes, it certainly does and it goes to the bunker, but the big question is, why was it not a red card? Can you have a yellow card even though it's foul play and there's no mitigation because it's always illegal?
The answer is yes you can, it all comes down on the day to whether the officials feel..that the actual content to the head is a high degree of danger. If it is a high degree of danger there is no debate whatsoever it will be a red card.
Even though it was always illegal, and there is contact with the head, they didn't feel that it was a high degree of danger and therefore, that's how it remained at a yellow card.
Fortunately for Ireland and Prendergast, Nigel Owens and Hollie Davidson's bunker team had the same understanding of the rules, because according to reports circulating on Wednesday evening, Sam Prendergast's Fiji performance has earned him a second international start against Australia this Saturday.
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