Tadhg Beirne has been cleared to play for Ireland this weekend against Japan after the red card he received in their 26-13 defeat by New Zealand on Saturday was rescinded.
The Munster forward was initially shown a yellow card for a challenge on All Black fly-half Beauden Barrett in the third minute of the match in Chicago.
The decision was upgraded to a 20-minute red card after a bunker review, meaning Ireland had to play that length of time a player down and Beirne was excluded from returning to the pitch. However, that was overturned by an independent disciplinary committee on Tuesday.
“Having considered the player’s and the other evidence and reviewed the footage, the disciplinary committee accepted the player’s submissions that whilst an act of foul play had occurred, it did not meet the red card threshold,” a statement read.
After the match, Barrett sympathised with Beirne, saying that he was “gutted” for him, adding the Ireland back row “didn’t intentionally put a shoulder” on him.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell was also surprised at the decision to upgrade to the red card on Saturday.
“I’m all for the safest way possible for this game to move forward,” Farrell said. “But to me, if you look at it in real time, I don’t know how it was transferred to that.
“They’ve obviously got their reasons and I’m not privy to that.”
Ireland face Japan in Dublin on Saturday (12:40 GMT) before playing Australia and South Africa in their remaining autumn internationals.
