Wales U20s suffered a huge set-back during the first half of their Six Nations clash with England U20s as captain Alex Mann received a red card.
The Cardiff No. 8 was given his marching orders for a shoulder to the head of his opposite number Emeka Ilione 29 minutes into the game at Doncaster’s Castle Park on Friday night.
As he went to put in a tackle, Mann caught Ilione to the jaw and, after being alerted to the incident by her TMO, Irish referee Joy Neville went to check the replays at the side of the pitch.
She decided there were no mitigating factors and sent the Welsh skipper for an early bath.
Mann was clearly distraught, putting his hands to his head before leaving the field, with England enjoying a single-point 8-7 lead at that point.
Former England, Toulon and Northampton back Tom May, commentating for BBC, said: "Nothing really malicious there from Alex Mann, he's just got it wrong. But no matter whether you get it wrong or there is intent, you can't be making contact with the ball-carrier's head. Very disappointing from a Welsh perspective but they have 50 minutes to play without him."
Mann had been a try-scoring man of the match in the bonus-point 26-13 victory over Scotland at Colwyn Bay a fortnight ago, and he had started Friday night's game really well, winning a jackal penalty over the ball to set up an attacking lineout after just two minutes.
He then leapt high to claim possession himself at the resulting set-piece, establishing the platform which culminated in prop Rhys Barratt diving over for a converted try.
It was a dream start for Wales, but the dream was to turn into a nightmare for Mann. Soon after he was red carded, England capitalised on their extra body to claim a second try and take a 15-7 interval lead. The game ended 43-14 to England. Read the full match report here.
When pressed for his thoughts about a potential orange card - where the offending player, in theory, could not return but may be replaced after 10 or 20 minutes - May sympathised but ultimately deemed it would be too confusing.
"My initial reaction is no, let's just keep it yellow and red," he said. "However, you can see from examples like that where players just get it wrong, does a team deserve to go all the way down to 14 men for 50 minutes?
"It's difficult isn't it? I think it just makes the game even more confusing than it is already."
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