ON TELEVISION: Anyone who has donned a jersey to play sport, at whatever level, knows that one of the fundamentals of success is good discipline. No argy-bargy in the line-out, no biting of ears, no butt-end of the hurley into the gut, no punching below the belt and, most certainly, no headbutting of an opponent, and definitely not under the referee's nose.
Rather than Salvatore Perugini's actual headbutt on poor young Peter Stringer in Saturday's Six Nations match - live for one and all to see on terrestrial television, on RTÉ and BBC - the most galling indictment was that the Italian prop forward should actually get away with it.
As Tony Ward rightly pointed out, with what we can only assume was steam coming out of his ears so forceful was he in his comments on Network 2 upon watching a replay of the incident, the decision not to send Perugini off was a "cop out" by the referee.
Rugby, of course, is a macho sport; a game of hard knocks, blood substitutions and cauliflower ears. But the bottom line is that you play by the rules, and that goes for the officials as well.
At half-time, down on the sideline, BBC's John Inverdale put it to Rob Henderson - injured and cast in the role of pitchside analyst - that the referee had "abrogated responsibility, got it badly wrong" in only issuing Perugini with a yellow card.
However, it was the point made by Jeremy Guscott, watching the match on a TV monitor in a studio in Murrayfield, which was most thought provoking.
During the half-time talk, the suave one reminded us that, in the old days before such things as yellow or red cards were brought in, such an incident would have left the referee with only one option - and that was straight dismissal. Guscott went further and opined that the "touch judge saw it, (the referee) Dickson's backed off" and that the touch judge shouldn't be on the line again.
Guscott also suggested that the technology which allows officials to halt play in order to determine whether a try is legitimate should also be used in incidents such as that which had just taken place.
With the assistance of video replay, there is no way that the referee would have been able to, as Jonathan Davies put it, "bottle it." It was a salient observation, and well made.
Indeed, the Stringer incident was, unfortunately, the most memorable thing about the first half. In Network Two's build-up to the game, there was the rather overly dramatic use of falling bombs and explosions in black and white - footage that seemed to belong to World War II or thereabouts - to explain the "bombshells" in the Irish team's selection and the use of David Humphreys as captain.
There were long stages of that first-half when it looked as if the Irish players could do with having a bomb placed beneath them to get them moving, but the Stringer assault put such thoughts well and truly into the background and brought some perspective to things.
As Network 2 match commentator Jim Sherwin exhaled, "oh dear, oh dear, oh dear ... for the second year in a row, Peter Stringer has been knocked out." And, upon watching the replay, "oh dear, oh dear, oh dear ... it even looks worse on replay, (it) has to be red. Disgraceful." To his amazement, and those of us safely ensconced on a couch with nothing more than the threat of a cushion being tossed in our direction, the referee only sinbinned the Italian for 10 minutes.
We could tell that Ward, sitting beside him, was seething as he described the decision to only issue a yellow card as a "cop out . . . that is a red card . . . every time you see it, it gets worse."
The TV studio overlooking Lansdowne Road was not a very happy place during the break. Tom McGurk referred to a "mess of a match" and a poor Irish performance and there were nods from George Hook - "Ireland are very lucky", while also making reference to "duff set pieces and average scrummages" - and Brent Pope - "We're making excuses - there were six or seven times in pressure situations when Ireland were throwing the ball away and also wayward passes to nobody" - as the realisation came that Ireland still had a way to go to become championship contenders.
McGurk made the point that the match "had descended into villainy ... when a referee sees a headbutt there is only one place that a player should be and that is in the dressing room." He was speaking to the converted. "I cannot believe the referee has let that guy stay on. PATHETIC!!!," replied Pope, while Hook agreed that a "headbutt is inexcusable" before going on to give His opinion that maybe Peter Stringer was not the complete angel.
"If you live by the sword sometimes you die by the sword ... I think he (Stringer) threw a couple of punches prior to the headbutt," said eagle-eyed Hook, although in such a way as to leave no doubt that he felt Stringer didn't deserve the punishment inflicted on him.
Strangely enough, it wasn't all referee bashing by those with microphones and, later in the afternoon, there were only good words to be said about how well Alain Rolland had done in his handling of the France-Scotland match.
Jonathan Davies, obviously nursing a cold and sounding as if someone had managed to scrape his throat with sandpaper, remarked how he had played sevens rugby with Rolland in Hong Kong in the old days and was impressed with how the player had turned his hand to refereeing. Now that's a rare thing in this cut-throat age of professionalism: somebody heaping praise on a referee.
PICK OF THE WEEK
TUESDAY
TG4 (9.00pm) - Greyhound View - This week the programme features racing from Cork, Shelbourne Park, Limerick and the final of the Redmills Cesarewitch from Mullingar. The programme also includes a special feature on the Ray Nicholas syndicate which is one of the most successful syndicates to date.
WEDNESDAY
Network 2 (7.00pm) and Sky Sports 1 (7.00pm) - Soccer: Ireland v Denmark - Further hints to what we can expect from Mick McCarthy's men in the Far East come summer time. The Republic take on Denmark and, if there is only so much weight that can be placed on friendly internationals, it is on occasions like these that the fringe men will earn a place on the the squad or be destined to watch the World Cup on television. Certainly, Colin Healy did his prospects of making the travelling party no harm with his display against Russia - and, this time round, he may get more than 45 minutes to stake his claim. Sky Sports 2 (7.00pm) - Soccer: England v Italy - Pity about the clash, but those who don't see everything through green-tinted glasses can take the alternative of tuning in to see two of Europe's heavyweights slug it out for the psychological edge before the World Cup.
THURSDAY
BBC2 (11.20pm) - Rugby Special - The late night slot suggests that those interested in viewing this interesting little number are something akin to night owls, but Keith Wood has certainly made an impressive start to a possible career in broadcasting when he gets around to hanging up his boots. Worth watching.
