Wale's captain Sam Warburton's apparent high tackle on France's Vincent Clerc. Photo / Greg Bowker
That was grim viewing, especially if you were Welsh.
Even worse for captain Sam Warburton who had to watch from the sidelines after 18 minutes when he was sent off for a dangerous tip tackle on French wing Vincent Clerc.
Feelings always run high after these decisions especially in a match of such high stakes as a World Cup semifinal.
Alain Rolland ruined the game, they yelled in their best defiant Welsh accents.
Other nationalities chimed in as well, aghast at the ruling.
Those who endured the sudden-death, low quality shootout at Eden Park might argue otherwise.
At least Rolland's decision, made with more alacrity than anyone else connected to the IRB, produced a piece of controversy we could pick apart instead of having to analyse the match.
No doubt the game would have been a far better spectacle and a much better contest with equal numbers.
Under IRB regulations, referee Rolland was correct.
However in the mist-filled eyes of Welsh supporters he has overtaken Bryce Lawrence as villain of the tournament.
You can understand their venting, even those half-charged boyos who hitch-hiked their way back into the city on the media bus.
They were hurting, they were angry and felt cheated. And despite their rancour you could understand their pain, even empathise with their resentment.
However the IRB regulations are clear. And make sense.
An IRB memorandum said there should be zero tolerance on tip tackles. If players were lifted then speared or dropped from a height red cards were mandatory.
If a player was lifted and tackled to the ground a yellow card is the minimum sanction.
Warburton lifted Vincent Clerc, speared him, then dropped him neck-first into the Eden Park turf.
Rolland had a clear view and made an immediate choice.
Decisive, yes. Gutsy, yes. Correct under match law, yes. In the spirit of the game, probably.
Consider the alternative.
If players are allowed to tackle clumsily and dangerously as Warburton did and spend 10 minutes in the cooler, there will be more infractions.
That's not to suggest players will deliberately go out to "spear" their rivals, but they may take less care with their tackles than they might have because the penalty is not so finite.
Someone will be dreadfully injured and then more hell than a rumble in a Cardiff nightclub will ensue.
But it's a World Cup semifinal, the Welsh and their supporters continued to rail, the decision ruined the game. How would you react, they asked, if it had been Richie McCaw rather than Warburton as the perpetrator?
It does not matter if it's a third-grade match with two men and a dog watching or the final of the World Cup, the danger is evident, the consequences too fearful.
Rolland was not at fault. He did not pick up Clerc and deposit him on his swede.
Sending Warburton off came as a shock early in the game and that contributed to the widespread displeasure. It also came with such haste as is not the hallmark of IRB officials.
Other players in the tournament have been more fortunate though Samoa's Paul Williams was sent off and later exonerated for an innocuous shove in the face.
A quartet of other players have been banned for three to five weeks for tip tackles. A couple received yellow cards and all were cited after games.
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