CARD GAME...
DID REF RIZZOLI GET ALL THE BIG CALLS RIGHT DURING THE DUST-UP IN DUBLIN?
NO-ONE said it was going to be pretty, but just how bad really was Wales’ World Cup showdown with the Republic of Ireland on Friday night?
Chris Coleman had urged his players not to become involved in a feisty affair, believing Ireland would try to drag Wales into a combat.
That’s not Wales’ style, of course. They have wowed for a number of years with the pass and move at pace football which helped them rampage to the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
The Aviva Stadium affair was more akin to a good old-fashioned British derby. There were certainly some tasty challenges from the two teams, with the incidents involving Neil Taylor and Gareth Bale obviously dominating the headlines.
Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli was correct to red card Taylor for the foul on Seamus Coleman.
But were there other fouls he should have punished more harshly?
We have trawled through the tape of the game and these were the main flashpoints. 41 mins, 11 secs: Long elbow/ forearm on Williams The game seems to have passed off reasonably incident free until exploding just before half-time when Irish striker Shane Long comes in with a ridiculous challenge on Wales skipper Ashley Williams.
Wales are calmly playing the ball around at the back, it is given to Wayne Hennessey who moves it forward to Williams in space.
Suddenly, Long races from right to left at full tilt and seems to elbow/ forearm Williams after the ball has been cleared.
Williams crashes to the ground and Hennessey rushes up to see if he is okay. The Welsh skipper is normally calm and collected on the field, but the challenge leaves him incensed.
He gets up and exchanges angry words with the Irish striker, who holds his arms down by his side as if to express his innocence. They continue their exchange of words off the ball for some time.
Italian referee Rizzoli is some way from the incident and only awards a free-kick.
On the sidelines, Welsh boss Chris Coleman angrily points towards where the challenge happened to make the official aware of his views. What should have happened: Yellow card. 44min 38sec: Whelan elbows Allen Joe Allen is controlling the game from the midfield and pinging the ball around beautifully as Ireland chase after it.
He receives a bad pass from James Chester, but manages to cleverly dink the ball over the onrushing Glenn Whelan and tries to run around his Stoke team-mate.
Whelan comes in with a clear elbow and sends Allen crashing to the floor.
The Ireland midfielder knows what he has done and goes to check Allen is okay. These two, remember, are friends and play together under Mark Hughes at the Britannia Stadium.
However, Allen reacts furiously and does an elbow motion to Whelan with the two men inches away from one another.
It is completely out of charter for the mild-mannered Allen. The referee and Hennessey step between him and Whelan to separate them.
Whelan reacts angrily himself at this point, although sensibly he walks away. As words continue being exchanged, Ben Davies and Williams try to calm down Allen.
On the slow motion, the incident looks really bad. Perhaps sensibly, Rizzoli blows his whistle for half-time straight away. What should have happened: Rizzoli had blown for a free kick, but this could easily have been a straight red card. 45 mins 15 sec: Meyler catches Ramsey with leading arm The second-half has only just begun when Aaron Ramsey goes up for a header and is caught by a Stephen Meyler leading arm. The referee instantly brandishes a yellow card.
Bodies gather around Ramsey, but Meyler pushes through them to help the Arsenal man back to his feet. They pat one another, so Ramsey seems okay with it. What should have happened: Correct decision 55 min 16 secs: Ramsey foot up on Whelan This actually seems to be an innocent coming together. The ball is bouncing loose outside the Welsh penalty area when Ramsey, eyes only on that ball, acrobatically looks to clear with his foot.
At the same time, Whelan stoops to try to head the ball forward and