Beirne's red card leaves Ireland boss baffled and All Black 'gutted'

Tadhg Beirne’s red card for a shoulder-to-head tackle on New Zealand flyhalf Beauden Barrett has sparked intense debate following Ireland’s 13-26 defeat at Soldier Field on Saturday.

New Zealand overcame a 10-point deficit to move closer to a Nations Series Grand Slam, but the match was overshadowed by an early incident involving Beirne.

In the third minute, referee Pierre Brousset showed the Munster lock a yellow card after his shoulder made contact with Barrett’s head—a decision later upgraded to a 20-minute red following a bunker review.

Speaking after the match, Barrett insisted there was no malice in the tackle.

“I spoke to Tadhg after the game and I was gutted for him, to be honest,” Barrett told reporters.

“It was one of those unfortunate parts of the game. I didn’t expect the ball, I was hoping Cam [Roigard] would play the other option, and Beirne had no other choice.

“He didn’t intentionally put a shoulder on me.

“I can’t hide from the fact that I copped a shoulder up there, but I’ll support him in terms of mitigating whatever happens next. It was just unfortunate – there was no intention.”

Barrett also weighed in on the relatively new 20-minute red card rule, saying it had been “beneficial for rugby,” though he acknowledged the timing of the decision was harsh in this instance.

“He may have only deserved a yellow, but 20 minutes is the absolute worst in this case,” he said.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell admitted the ruling left him puzzled.

“I don’t know because I am all for the safest way possible for this game to move forward, so you’ve got to be careful what you say in that regard,” Farrell said.

“To me, if you look at it in real time, I don’t know how he was transferred [from yellow to red]. They’ve obviously got their reasons, and I wasn’t privy to that.

“You can look at it in all angles but the only way to look at it is in real time.

“To me it’s a forward pass in the first place and how that influences your decision after that…but it doesn’t matter any more does it? We got a red card and we actually dealt with it pretty well to be fair. That doesn’t make it any better.”

Here are some of the reactions from social media: 

*Additional source: WalesOnline