Rugby referee great Nigel Owens says the officials who kept Ardie Savea from returning to the pitch in Saturday's loss against Ireland got it wrong - on multiple fronts.
Savea made way for a front row replacement just after the 30th minute mark of the 23-12 loss as Angus Ta'avao was red carded for a tackle on Garry Ringrose while Ofa Tuungafasi was already serving a stint on the sidelines for a yellow card of his own.
When the All Blacks returned to 14 men, management wanted Savea to return to play but were told by officials they couldn't.
“There was clearly confusion around the red card and what could happen after that. To be fair to everyone, it was a revolving door there for a little while,” coach Ian Foster said after the match.
“But we are seeking clarification. What happened was not what we thought should happen."
He was right.
Owens, who retired from officiating in 2020 after a 17-year career, broke down the All Blacks' game in full detail during his regular show Whistle Watch on World Rugby's YouTube channel.
While he spent some time discussing whether Tuungafasi's yellow card should've resulted in a penalty try - which he thought it should've despite referee of the evening Jaco Peyper deciding it didn't - he spoke more about Savea's confusing substitution issues.
Owens said the issues started before Savea even tried to come back on.
"When you go to uncontested scrums because of actions of foul play or a player not able to carry on playing in the front row, then you have to take a player down," the Welshman explained.
"So in this situation, New Zealand already have two players off, they go down to uncontested scrums with 13 men which means they should've gone down to 12 men as well."
READ MORE: Ardie Savea prayed on sideline after 'confusing' sub
Owens said with that rule not implemented correctly, it created the confusion around Savea's return.
"There's been a bit of a mix up," he said.
"When they were down to 13 men and then go to uncontested scrums, they should've gone down to 12 men. When they go back to contestable scrums they are back up to 14 men with just the red card off the field.
"The key thing is here is it doesn't matter which one of those players comes back on. So where the officials were wrong here in saying that Savea couldn't come back on was that Savea could come back on but one of the other players would've had to stay off.
"So either Savea stays off or the other player stays off."
It's the first time the situation has been officially acknowledged this week on a World Rugby platform with requests sent by 1News earlier this week to the governing body not responded to.
However, World Rugby quietly admitted the officials got it wrong in the aftermath of the Test, 1News understands.
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