Ireland were lucky to escape more yellow cards in their bruising defeat to South Africa at the weekend, according to former international Bernard Jackman.
English official Matthew Carley brandished six cards during the Test in Dublin, five of which went to the hosts and included a 20-minute red card to James Ryan.
With South Africa utterly dominant in the scrum, it was something of a moral victory to have lost by just 11 points, with Andy Farrell's side finishing the game on the front foot in desperate search of a second try.
The tale of the match was that the hosts gave up six penalties from South Africa’s 16 scrums, but four of those were reset after collapses, bringing the more appropriate number to 12.
The home crowd voiced its displeasure for the sheer number of cards and the fact that South Africa out-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu escaped any sanction after his shoulder charge on Tommy O’Brien early in the game.
A scuffle breaks out after Feinberg-Mngomezulu's tackle on Tommy O'Brien. The Springbok fortunate to escape further sanction there.
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 22, 2025
📺 RTÉ2
💻 https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ
🖥️ https://t.co/NrozQUQj71 pic.twitter.com/z6is37u9iF
Jackman believes that while the Feinberg-Mngomezulu incident should have been "at least yellow-carded, possibly red", it may be partly down to the fact the match official was over-compensating for what happened in the last few weeks with red cards to Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert against France and Italy respectively.
However, the former Leinster and Connacht hooker argues that Ireland were fortunate to escape from other incidents, adding that Ryan could have been shown a straight red for his high hit on Malcolm Marx.
"Unfortunately, I can understand the reasons for the cards," he told RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland. "The referee was in a very difficult position.
"Technically he made another mistake when the penalty try was given, he should have given another yellow card. Tommy O’Brien should have got yellow as well.
"We might have felt very hard done by in the moment, but unfortunately our discipline was really poor as well. A lot of it came from being completely pinned in the scrum.
"I haven’t seen a Test match where one team has been as dominant in that area for a couple of years."
South Africa’s decision to focus on scrums became suffocating for Ireland according to Jackman, who admits that with France first up in next year’s Six Nations, the manner of the defeat on Saturday was something of a "rude awakening".
"No other team in world rugby have the profile the South Africans have. We have to try and find improvements so we are not totally overpowered up front like we were on Saturday.
"It rarely happens to Ireland. France, who we play first up in the Six Nations, they have a similar profile, but they don’t have the same power off the bench as the Springboks.
"It is an area that will concern Andy Farrell, scrum coach John Fogarty and all the provincial coaches.
"We need to be better tactically and technically so it doesn’t become such a weakness."
