ALL BLACKS OUT-HALF Beauden Barrett praised Tadhg Beirne for his “good awareness” to prevent a more serious collision between the pair when he provided a statement for the Ireland lock’s disciplinary hearing.

On Tuesday, an independent disciplinary panel overturned Beirne’s 20-minute red card for the contact with Barrett early on in Ireland’s defeat to New Zealand, freeing the Irishman to play against Japan this weekend.

The written report from the hearing confirms that the disciplinary panel felt it should have been a yellow card for Beirne, rather than the 20-minute red card he received during the game in Chicago.

Post-match, Barrett indicated that he would do whatever he could to prevent Beirne from being banned and the experienced All Blacks playmaker lived up to his word with the detailed statement he provided for Tuesday’s disciplinary hearing.

Barrett said he took responsibility for “entering contact in a high position, as that contributed to the nature of the collision,” and he praised Beirne for his response to a “contact sport situation”

“I was running a decoy line on the short side, inside-out, on the left side of the field (bench side),” said Barrett in his statement.

“The play wasn’t designed for me to receive the ball, and I didn’t expect to be involved. However, Cam [Roigard] passed me the ball unexpectedly. I caught it — more by luck than anticipation — and because I wasn’t prepared to carry, my body position was high and not committed with proper intent or force.

“As I carried into contact, I ran into a congested area, hoping Cam would play out the back. Initial contact was front-on and above the shoulder area.

“I take responsibility for entering contact in a high position, as that contributed to the nature of the collision.

“I don’t believe the opposing player could have done much differently — it was a contact sport situation, and fortunately, Tadgh showed good awareness and controlled his force, which prevented a more serious collision.”

New Zealand’s team doctor, Martin Swan, also sent an email to the panel to confirm that Barrett had not suffered any direct injuries from the incident with Beirne.

The written report from the hearing includes a statement from foul play review officer [FPRO] Dan Jones, who recommended that Beirne’s sanction be upgraded from yellow to a 20-minute red after his off-field review during last weekend’s game in Chicago.

Jones’ view was that the collision involved a high degree of danger, meaning red, and that there was no mitigation to bring that down to yellow.

“The Ireland number 5 was moving forward to make a tackle on NZ 10 and as 10 NZ takes a pass and possession of the ball, Ireland 5 makes contact [sic] direct head contact with his shoulder to NZ10,” reads the FPRO’s report.

“There was no attempt to grasp or make a legal tackle at any point. The direct contact with the head of NZ 10 causes him to propel backwards. The Ireland 5 is never in a position to make a legal tackle and is always upright and is never making an attempt to grasp.

“The tackle I see as high danger and no mitigation can be applied due to it being always illegal.”

However, the disciplinary panel agreed with Beirne’s assertion that the incident did not involve a high degree of danger.

The IRFU provided a new camera angle – which was not available to the match officials during the game – to support Beirne’s case, with the panel saying it was “was pertinent to our assessment of the degree of danger.”

Making reference to Barrett’s statement that Beirne “controlled his force, which prevented a more serious collision,” the panel essentially agreed with Beirne’s assertion that the degree of danger was not high.

In stating that “it was not low either,” the panel felt a yellow card should have been the starting point. They didn’t see any mitigation to bring that yellow-card sanction down. The panel added that “none of this is a criticism of the match officials, whose task is extremely difficult and carried out under pressure of time.”

Beirne is free to play against Japan this weekend.