Former Irish referee defends Matthew Carley in wake of South Africa loss

There has been a lot of talk about the refereeing on Saturday.

Referee Matthew Carley was public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of many Ireland fans after their side's loss to South Africa on Saturday.

His decision not to dish out a card to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was a point of particular ire, after the out-half's head hit on Tommy O'Brien.

Supporters also felt that while Ireland were rightfully carded for scrum infringements, that more scrutiny should have been placed on the Springboks.

However, former referee Owen Doyle, in his review of the game for the Irish Times, defended Carley, expressing his feeling that overall the game was fairly balanced, and that the referee was not to blame for Ireland's loss.

He wrote: "Hand on heart, it’s hard to blame Carley for the defeat. While both teams were at it, Ireland’s protection of the ball at the tackle was quite frequent, just plain old-fashioned sealing-off, denying the visitors a chance to contest possession.

"Any notion that we were hard-done-by on the penalty count is also incorrect. Carley pinged South Africa 13 times and Ireland on 18 occasions, of which six were at scrum time, one being the penalty try."