38 minutes into Leinster’s Guinness PRO12 semi-final against Scarlets, Garry Ringrose was dumped head-first towards the RDS turf.
The Leinster centre was his side’s brightest spark in a dour first half performance that saw them trail 21-10 at the break.
Ringrose scored Leinster’s only try and was pressing for a second when he was stopped in his tracks by Scarlets winger Steff Evans. As he attempted to wrench free, prop Samson Lee joined in on the tackle.
Ringrose was tipped back towards the turf and the tackle looked bad on the replays as he got treatment on the pitch.
The match officials took their time and watched eight or nine replays before a decision was made – red card for Evans.
Whilst the home crowd approved of the decision, Ringrose was copping some flak on social media. Many fans of a Welsh persuasion felt the 22-year-old exaggerated the incident and needlessly stayed down for treatment.
We will not display the unsavory comments out there – and there are quite a few – but this is a taste of the criticism Ringrose has received:
https://twitter.com/OJLloyd/status/865652149845336064
@RugbyPodcast anyone else think ringrose knew what he was doing there? No way a red card for me. #lettheboysplay
— Dylan Pugh (@dylanjamespugh) May 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/marc_b15/status/865652772498059264
Had ringrose not twisted (purposely), he'd have landed on his shoulder.. yellow card, move on. Not this bullshit
— Ffion Thomas (@ffionmthomas) May 19, 2017
I never condone malicious play but you have too look at the mechanism and Samson Lee's role as well as Ringrose twist in the air #GotPlayed
— Iestyn Davies (@Dociest) May 19, 2017
Luckily for Leinster, Ringrose was fit to play on.
