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'Scumbag' - Ref mic picks up O'Mahony firing off at serial offender Lavanini
By Ian Cameron
An exchange between Ireland skipper Peter O’Mahoney and Argentina’s Tomas Lavanini during their one-sided Autumn Nation Series in Dublin this afternoon caught the eye – or rather the ear.
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Ireland have made it a clean sweep of November Test victories as they followed up their memorable triumph over New Zealand with a record 53-7 thrashing of an indisciplined Argentina side at the Aviva Stadium.
After Mateo Carreras caught the hosts napping to give Argentina an early lead on Sunday, Ireland rattled off 53 unanswered points, with Josh Van der Flier, Andrew Porter and Caelan Doris grabbing first-half tries.
Van der Flier added his second while Pablo Matera was in the sin bin and the floodgates opened after Tomas Lavanini saw red shortly afterwards with Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy and Tadhg Beirne making it seven tries from Ireland’s increasingly impressive pack.
Lock Lavanini became the first man in Test rugby to be sent off three times after leading with his shoulder into the neck of prop Cian Healy, who wasn’t near the ball at the back of a ruck.
Lavanini becomes the first man in Test rugby to be sent off three times 🟥#IREvARGpic.twitter.com/HpZl42yMSC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 21, 2021
He was also red-carded against South Africa in 2017 and England at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
However, it was the words of Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony for the giant Puma, which were picked up by the ref mic that may well have chimed with many a rugby fan around the world who are equally tired of the cheap shots that the 6’7, 128kg lock doles out on a semi-regular basis.
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“That’s a ****ing red. You’re a scumbag. You know exactly what you’re doing,” said a fired-up O’Mahony. “He knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Scumbag.”
“Hardman, aren’t you? Good man yourself,’ said the veteran flanker, ‘That’s very unlike you, isn’t it?’
Argentina seeing red! 🟥#C4Rugby | #IrishRugby ☘️ | #IREvARG pic.twitter.com/lVTtWQCsNx
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) November 21, 2021
He then apologised for his comments to referee Matthew Carley. You dare say some of his Argentine teammates are as exasperated with his discipline issues as O’Mahony was.
The victory, almost as wide Ireland’s opening 60-5 win over Japan, also made it a weekend sweep of wins for the northern hemisphere nations over their southern counterparts, setting up an exciting 2022 Six Nations in which Ireland should be genuine title contenders.
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– with AAP
