Manu Tuilagi’s red card was absolutely the right decision by referee Ben O’Keefe and his TMO, Marius Jonker. They took their time reviewing it but really had no other choice.

Simply put, it was a no-arms tackle - ie a shoulder charge - where first contact was made to the head of the ball carrier, Wales’ George North. That is automatically a red card, with mitigation not considered.

On the replays you can see how Tuilagi actually tucks his right arm close to his body, which makes it impossible to even attempt to wrap it in the tackle. That ensures he is in serious trouble, and once he makes contact with North’s head a red card is inevitable.

As I say, mitigation was not considered due to the nature of the tackle, but you could see that Tuilagi may have been caught out slightly by the fact North dipped shortly before contact was made as he was tackled by Henry Slade. If Tuilagi had been trying to wrap his arms that might have saved him, but as it was a no-arms tackle he had to go.