Fiji head coach Mick Byrne was furious that Sam Prendergast’s first-half yellow card for a high tackle was not upgraded to a red.
The controversial incident occurred in the eighth minute of Ireland’s thumping 52-17 win, with Prendergast shown a yellow for a tucked arm on Fiji back-row Kitione Salawa.
Referee Hollie Davidson issued a yellow card, which was then reviewed by the TMO bunker Andrew McMenemy, who decided against upgrading it to a red card offence.
Prendergast was the most relieved man at the Aviva Stadium, as he returned from his 10 minutes in the sin bin to steer Ireland to a comfortable victory.
Byrne was asked for his take on the incident, and he said: “Aw no, I think he was wearing a green jersey, so it stayed yellow.”
Asked to elaborate on what he thought of the referee’s overall performance in a game that Fiji conceded 17 penalties and had had two yellow cards, Byrne replied: “It was definitely on us. We just need to get better. Sometimes our enthusiasm to get the job done, especially early on, we came in from the side of the ruck a couple of times, but at the end of the day, it’s on us. It’s not on the referee.
“The 50/50s, that last try, if you have another look at it, the green jersey was holding on to the white jersey, but nothing comes from the TMO. I’m sure if it was the other way around, you might not have got that try allowed.
“But that’s our job, our job is to earn ourselves, over the next two years, the respect of World Rugby and we have to play a little bit better than we did today to get that.”
Andy Farrell was asked for his response to Byrne’s comments about Prendergast, but the Ireland boss shrugged it off.
“Ah, I get why it is. But to me, he turned his back and it’s harsh enough that. I don’t know, I’ll have to look at it again, but that’s the game isn’t it?
“I thought our discipline was pretty good in general and it certainly added to the reason why, if you look at the story of the game and you fast forward it I thought territory-wise and dominance-wise, yes, a couple of execution bits could have been better, I thought our discipline added to our strong hold on the game.
Fiji’s co-captain Waisea Nayacalevu echoed his head coach’s remarks about needing to improve their discipline, as the powerful Sale centre dismissed the suggestion that it was tougher for teams like his to earn respect from World Rugby and match officials.
“I would say not really,” he added.
“We got out there and give our best. We train all week to be disciplined, to play the game the way we want to play and at the end of the day, the match officials make the calls.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, which is frustrating. At the moment, it’s happening, and if we can have that fair play call, then we can play more entertaining rugby and we get more momentum as well going into our games, playing how we want to play.”