IRB: Poite was wrong

Cape Town - The International Rugby Board (IRB) has confirmed that French referee Romain Poite was wrong in his decision to give Bismarck du Plessis his first yellow card during the Boks’ clash against the All Blacks in Saturday’s Rugby Championship match in Auckland.

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In a statement released by the IRB, Poite's decision to issue a yellow card to Du Plessis in the 17th minute of match was incorrect, basing the incident on human error.

"Just as players and coaches make mistakes, the decision was an unfortunate case of human error by the match officials, who, having reviewed the match, fully recognise and accept that they made a mistake in the application of law," the statement read.

"All match official performances are thoroughly reviewed and assessed by the IRB and are considered when appointments are made for future Test matches."

Du Plessis will have to face a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday via video conference as a result of the red card handed out to him for a second yellow card offence later in the match, which left the Boks down to 14 men for the remaining 30 minutes of the match.