Fans slam ‘inconsistent’ refereeing as South Africa star avoids red card for clash of heads after Tom Curry sending off

Rugby fans vented their frustrations on social media after South Africa star Jesse Kriel avoided a red card against Scotland.

The defending World Cup champions were handed an early reprieve as they kicked off their tournament in France against Gregor Townsend's side on Sunday evening.

Just moments into the match, Kriel went in for the tackle on Jack Dempsey and the duo had a head-on-head collision.

TMO opted not to review the incident and the Springboks full-back avoided any punishment.

Such a scenario comes just less than 24 hours after Tom Curry was sent off in the opening stages of England's 27-10 win over Argentina.

The Sale Sharks flanker was initially shown yellow for his collision with Juan Cruz Mallia but this was upgraded to a red card.

Kriel's incident is similar to Curry's and fans on social media have been questioning the consistency from referees with such decisions.

Taking to X, one said: "Absolutely ridiculous Curry was red-carded and Kriel wasn’t?! Rugby is just so difficult to understand right now and so inconsistent."

"The logical conclusion of inconsistency in this department is players staying down to get the official's attention as is often the case in football. The TMO team has had a shocker here," added another.

A bewildered third said: "Shocking lack of consistency. Not to even review it is baffling."

"Sadly if Dempsey goes down and gets treatment then it gets looked at. Shouldn’t be the case," a fourth added.

South Africa went into the break with a 6-3 lead over Scotland, with Kriel still on the pitch.

The defending champions then stepped up the pace in the second half as Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kurt-Lee Arendse both scored tries.

Full-time soon came and the Springboks sealed an 18-3 win to get their tournament off to a strong start.