All Blacks winger Leicester Faingaanuku was lucky to escape a red card following a "nasty" aerial challenge on Ireland's Mack Hansen.
Hansen had just kicked the ball up the right touchline when Fainga'anuku and Dalton Papalii clattered into him 17 minutes into the contest on Saturday. The All Blacks winger came flying through the air to make shoulder contact with the Irishman while his arms were not wrapped.
Replays were played inside the stadium in Dunedin, where TMO Tom Foley agreed with referee Jaco Peyper's yellow card assessment due to the first contact between the pair being with Hansen's chest, although there was confirmed head contact right afterwards. Foley said: "It is not high danger. It is yellow card."
Read more: 'Sickening' head collision in New Zealand v Ireland Test sees players floored amid red card
Seeing the initial replay, commentator Alan Quinlan said: "He's in big trouble here. That's a red card for me."
But after the referee's decision to send the No. 11 to the sin-bin, Quinlan added: "He's lucky to get away with that. I think what gets it away is there is a little bit of contact with the chest, but very, very fortunate I think."
Questions have also been raised about why Hansen did not leave the field for a head injury assessment.
Lobby group Progressive Rugby said on Twitter: "Reckless challenge from Leicester Fainga’anuku. Very surprised Mack Hansen hasn’t gone for a HIA. That was a very heavy impact to head. Very nasty indeed."
In the build-up to the game, Ireland had come in for criticism for naming captain Johnny Sexton in the matchday 23 just a week after he failed an on-pitch assessment. But Sexton insisted he had passed head injury tests "with flying colours", adding: "You go off for a HIA and you don't come back on, everyone presumes that's a concussion, but it's not."
Meanwhile, sports broadcaster Andrew McKenna asked: "Serious question: watching back the Faingaanuku card (yes it had to be a card), but where is he supposed to go? This isn't the Matrix, you can't change directions in mid air; so are we saying that the best thing is not to actually jump from that far away?"
Little more than 10 minutes later and there was a red card for replacement All Blacks prop Angus Ta'avao, who was sent off for going into a tackle too upright against Ireland's Garry Ringrose.
Hansen had returned to the Ireland starting XV following a bout of Covid in the only change to Andy Farrell's side which had lost to the All Blacks in the series opener before securing a historic first-ever win on New Zealand soil.
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