{"id":424131,"date":"2025-09-14T16:43:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T16:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/424131\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T16:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T16:43:14","slug":"controversy-erupts-over-alleged-missed-bite-on-ireland-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/424131\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy erupts over alleged missed bite on Ireland player"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s exit from the women\u2019s Rugby World Cup has ignited a social media furore over allegations that one of their players was bitten by a French opponent during the match.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott Bemand\u2019s team lost the quarter-final at Exeter 13-18 after a ferocious battle. The underdog Irish led 13-0 at the break, but they were eventually overtaken in the second half by the French, who will now play the winner of the England versus Scotland tie in next weekend\u2019s semi-finals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tries from Linda Djougang and Stacey Flood gave Ireland<\/a> the early initiative in Devon, but the French hit back with 59th and 67th minute tries, and the match was to finish with the Irish unsuccessfully trying to fashion a winning score from a lineout inside the opposition 22.<\/p>\n

It was a terrific performance from Ireland, who were beaten by the French 15-27 in the Six Nations last March in Belfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to the referee\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Their competitiveness at Sandy Park was helped by the return to the team of Aoife Wafer, the 2025 Six Nations player of the championship, who missed the pool stages of the World Cup after knee surgery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was an incident involving Wafer that ignited social media following Ireland\u2019s exit, as it was alleged she had been bitten by a French player, and her attempt to bring this to the referee\u2019s attention was dismissed.<\/p>\n

In footage circulating on social media, Wafer is seen competing for the ball at an early second-half breakdown with a French player grabbing hold of her and seemingly locking her mouth onto her arm.<\/p>\n

Wafer, who was given the jackal turnover decision, was then seen telling the referee Aimee Barrett-Theron that she had been bitten while contesting the ruck, but her allegation came to nought.<\/p>\n

Ireland launches stunning kit and merch to celebrate World Cup quarter-final progress<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to the referee, I didn\u2019t see it,\u201d said Ireland captain Sam Monaghan following the game. \u201cI spoke to the referee and asked could they have a look at it. It [the check] was through TMO.\u201d<\/p>\n

A potential red card for biting at that stage of the match would have been crucial, as it would have left Ireland defending their lead against a French team down a player.<\/p>\n

Quizzed on the alleged bite controversy, Ireland coach Bemand said: \u00a0\u201cWe have literally just stepped off the pitch. If there is any bits to pick up, we\u2019ll pick up in the next hour.<\/p>\n

Opinion: \u2018Real deal\u2019 Red Roses will not get a better shot at World Cup glory, they have to take it<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of process, your on-pitch leadership would mention to the referee. Then it\u2019s up to the team officials to deal with it should they see fit at that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to get drawn into anything at this point. At the moment, I haven\u2019t seen anything. As I said, I\u2019ve literally stepped in here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are bits to pursue, we could potentially be disappointed, but we have followed the process as best we can from our perspective in terms of the on-pitch conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biting is viewed as a serious offence, with the low-end suspension entry point for a player found guilty of the offence starting at 12 weeks.<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/strong>: Opinion: Teen sensation \u2018restores New Zealand rugby pride\u2019 as Black Ferns overcome Bok Women\u2019s \u2018heft and muscle\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s exit from the women\u2019s Rugby World Cup has ignited a social media furore over allegations that one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[144007,2000,299,36,225,90462,678,12,4214],"class_list":{"0":"post-424131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-aoife-wafer","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-internationals","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-rugby-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115203656997300475","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}