Sam Warburton knows all about how red cards can affect a team on the brink of history.
Amid all the furore, slow-mo replays, jingoism and visits to Nigel Owens in the BBC observational booth, it took Sam Warburton to cut through the noise.
After 30 minutes of Ireland's Six Nations clash, Garry Ringrose was shown a yellow card for a high-shot tackle on Wales' Ben Thomas. The Leinster centre had tried to blindside Thomas but his angle of approach was too high, and heads collided.
Ringrose was sent to the sin-bin but there was a bunker review and that card was upgraded to a 20-minute red card. Wales hit the front, when Ireland were down to 14 men, but Bundee Aki came on with 30 minutes to play as Ireland were restored to a full complement.
Over on the BBC, Jonathan 'Jiffy' Davies felt, as the second half resumed, that Ireland were fortunate not to be down to 14 men for the rest of the match. Those feelings only grew as Ireland came back from 18-10 down to win, 27-18.
Following the match, the BBC panel of Martin Johnson, Alun Wyn Jones, Tommy Bowe and Sam Warburton were asked, by host Gabby Logan, if the 20-minute red card was a fair result.
While Johnson argued that it could have gone either way for Ringrose, and Bowe hinted at a 'long ban', Warburton made the most sense on the matter.
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Sam Warburton on Garry Ringrose red card
Back at the 2011 World Cup, Sam Warburton was red-carded after a dump tackle against France, in the first half of his side's semi-final clash.
Warburton is well placed, then, to comment on the ultimate sanction for a reckless, rather than malicious rugby play. The 20-minute red card has been pushed by the southern hemisphere 'Tier One' nations. In the 2023 World Cup Final, All Blacks captain Sam Cane was red-carded in the first half of his team's eventual loss to South Africa.
"No, I think the full reds are for blatant acts of foul play," noted the former Wales and Lions captain.
"That can still happen - stamping, eye-gouging - those things are straight reds; non-negotiable. I think Garry Ringrose has just come in all-guns-blazing. It's poor tackle technique but that is the situation a 20-minute red card was brought in for."
"If it was a permanent red," he added, "I still feel Ireland could have climbed back in to the match. It could have really changed the course of the game, and the 20-minute red card corrected that (course) and the better team won."
Johnson, the former England captain, joked about Warburton singling out stamping and gouging. "Like you would have done, back in the day," Warburton remarked.
"It was a good call," Johnson agreed. "It was a clumsy challenge. He didn't go in to deliberately make head contact."
