Ireland will be delighted to emerge as winners from their Six Nations fixture against Scotland this afternoon, although many supporters are still scratching their heads over decisions made during the 80 minutes at Murrayfield.
It was an incredibly hard fought contest for the majority of the game. The Scots looked very impressive in attack, even if they more often than not failed to capitalise in dangerous positions.
On the other end, they used some rather questionable tactics to stop Ireland crossing the try line. Every time Andy Farrell's side applied pressure, they were more than happy to commit infringements in order to slow the pace of play.
Despite this being carried out on a consistent basis, referee Luke Pearce was very hesitant to produce the yellow card.
It didn't matter in the end as Ireland secured a comfortable win, although questions will be asked about some of the decisions made over the course of the game.
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Nigel Owens says Scotland should have been given yellow card
There was a prime example just before halftime. With Ireland in the midst of a spell of pressure on the Scottish line, Stuart Hogg would jump over the back of the ruck and slap the ball out of Conor Murray's hands as he attempted to get the play going again.
Luke Pearce awarded a penalty, but it was difficult to see how a yellow card was not added to the punishment. Johnny Sexton and some of his teammates questioned at the time why further action was not taken.
Speaking on the BBC at halftime Tommy Bowe said it was a certain yellow card, while former Scotland player John Barclay felt it wasn't as he claimed Hogg still had his feet on the ground. Martin Johnston agreed with Barclay.
Nigel Owens was given the deciding vote, with the former referee saying the Scot was incredibly lucky not to be sent to the sin bin.
You got an Englishman and a Scotsman saying he's on his feet and an Irishman saying he's off his feet, I'm going to tell you what the referee thinks.
He's off his feet. He's using the players there to stay up, then he leans over and takes the hand. If he was on his feet and onside, he would be quite entitled to do that. But he's not, he's leaning over.
I will say he's very, very lucky there not to get the yellow card. Whether the player asking for a yellow card might have thrown Pearce a bit, I'm not sure.
He is very lucky not to go in the for that. It is a good line break from Ireland with quick ball. On another day, that might have ended up as a yellow card.
Fairly resounding there from the Welshman.
Luckily for Ireland, this and a few other questionable decisions did not have a decisive impact on the result as they ran out winners and remained in the hunt for a Grand Slam.
They will now be aiming to finish the job against England next weekend.
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