Former Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara has claimed that Ireland would have beaten Wales by 10 points had Peter O'Mahony not been sent off.
Irish blindside flanker O'Mahony was sent off early in the Six Nations opener against Wales for a illegal clearout to the head of Welsh prop Tomas Francis.
The dismissal proved a turning point in the match - with Wales running out 21-16 winners in a tense encounter at the Principality Stadium.
And O'Gara, speaking to the Irish Times, believes that Ireland would have won by a comfortable margin were it not for O'Mahony's moment of madness.
“Ireland probably would have won the game by 10 points I would think. Even saying that, I think Ireland will be disappointed with their inaccuracies in certain aspects of the game that cost the game considering all that went against them, but that (red card) was the key point.”
O'Gara also offered his thoughts on the red card itself.
While O'Gara didn't specifically say whether he agreed with the decision, he did have some issues with the process that led to the decision - as well as the description that O'Mahony was out of control as he entered the ruck.
“What’s fascinating for me is the red card," he added.
"So, it just shows nowadays that the referee on the field isn’t the most important person. It’s the TMO because to quote Wayne Barnes, ‘it’s a clear out, it’s totally unavoidable’ was his language.
“If you have that in your sport where it becomes stopped and frozen and we’re looking at stills, I think they’re going to have to do something at the breakdown because you need force to clear people and obviously force to the head is a red card. Is it foul play?
“He’s come from a distance, it’s high speed and he’s hit him in head, he’s not in control. It’s high danger. Sanction is a red card," O'Gara added, paraphrasing Barnes' assessment of the clearout.
“So from 60 seconds previously to watching it live, Wayne Barnes thinks it’s a clear out and there’s nothing wrong and it’s totally unavoidable to his attention being drawn to it. It’s the TMO who stops the game and we have a look at one image and it gives the referee the view that it’s a blow to the head and once it’s a blow to the head it’s a red card.
“It was Johnny who cleared out the prop and normally he stays on his stomach, but Peter parks up a little bit. I do think he actually is in control. As a coach, it’s getting very, very difficult to understand what we need to do in this aspect of the game.
“What’s happening at that level of the game is discipline is unbelievable because the red card had the biggest impact."
