Andy Farrell has called for rugby’s laws around tackle heights to be cleaned up after admitting Craig Casey’s first-half yellow card for head-on-head contact was hard to take.
Ireland’s scrum-half was sent to the sin bin after a TMO check by Ian Tempest in the 32nd minute for foul play.
Casey was left with a broken nose after the collision with Italy’s No.8 Lorenzo Cannone, the ball carrier, and was receiving on-field treatment when referee Hollie Davidson issued the card and instigated a bunker review for a possible red.
The punishment stayed as a yellow by Ireland’s head coach took issue with the decision to issue any card.
Casey, 5ft 5ins, was upright as the 6ft 3ins back rower flew into contact under a tackle from Joe McCarthy with the number nine having little chance of getting out of the way.
“They’ll say that is his duty to get lower, but sometimes it shocks you when somebody steps back into you or whatever,” Farrell said of the incident.
“It needs cleaning up in my opinion, because you get a broken nose and you didn’t even know that it happened. It’s hard to take, isn’t it sometimes?”
