Rugby:Not only did Stephen Ferris escape any further punishment for his tackle on Ian Evans today, but the disciplinary panel that heard his case in London found a penalty should never have been awarded by referee Wayne Barnes, according to the Ireland management.
Ferris was yellow-carded for his tackle on the Welsh lock in the final minute of the Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, a decision that led to Leigh Halfpenny kicking the match-winning penalty with seconds to spare.
The flanker was subsequently cited by Italian match commissioner Achille Reali, but cleared of any wrongdoing today and is free to face France in Paris on Saturday night.
“We are obviously delighted that Stephen has been totally exonerated of any wrongdoing by the disciplinary panel and that he is now available for selection this weekend against France,” said team manager Michael Kearney after attending the hearing with Ferris.
“While we understand and fully support the stance to stamp out dangerous tackles in the game to make it safe at all levels, the disciplinary panel itself felt that the decision to award a penalty was incorrect and we also felt that it was a fair and legitimate tackle by Stephen.
“He is a hard and fair player and I think that his previous disciplinary record supports why we felt so strongly about his defence. The focus now for Stephen and the rest of the squad is to prepare for the game against France this weekend.”
It leaves a bittersweet aftertaste from whole episode for Declan Kidney, his squad and the IRFU. For all the criticism the team received in the wake of the two-point defeat, it has been found the officials played a significant role in Ireland’s demise on two occasions.
The first, the sin-binning of Bradley Davies for a recklessly dangerous dump tackle on Donnacha Ryan in the 65th minute, was also shown up to be bad call, not just by Barnes, but from touch judge Dave Pearson, who will referee Ireland’s game in Paris this weekend.
Pearson intervened after the tackle and described what he saw to Barnes as a yellow card offence. However, prior to Ferris’s hearing today Davies was banned for seven weeks by the panel, a sanction that was reduced by five weeks after taking Davies’s admission of guilt, his previous good disciplinary record and his conduct at the hearing in into account.
Conversely, careful analysis of the video evidence in Ferris’s case and consideration of the player’s and his representative’s explanation of the tackle, led to the panel deciding not to uphold the citing.
"Thank goodness that is all over," Tweeted the Ulster backrow afterwards. "Happy man."
Ferris's Ulster team-mates Chris Henry, Paddy Wallace and Dan Tuohy have been released from the squad back to their province and will be available to coach Brian McLaughlin ahead of their game against the Dragons at Ravenhill on Friday night.
Keith Earls is back in the frame for a starting berth after missing the Wales game for personal reasons and could be returned to outside centre ahead of Fergus McFadden when the team is named at 1.15pm tomorrow.
