Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe found himself in a sticky situation at the weekend after being booked for what was described as a “profanity-laden” tirade towards the referee.

The 33-year-old was playing for his new club Gloucester in their Premiership clash against Newcastle Falcons at Kingsholm on Saturday.

Anscombe was in impressive form in the first half as Cherry and whites Opened a 26-0 lead at the break, but got angry early in the second period.

The incident

Although his team is in a comfortable position, the Wales The playmaker became furious after referee Ian Tempest declared the advantage over in an earlier knock-on at Newcastle.

The Falcons had dropped the ball, but the referee allowed the play to continue despite the action occurring well behind where the first pass occurred.

However, once winger Ollie Thorley had made significant inroads into the Falcons rearguard, Tempest decided that Gloucester had enjoyed enough of the advantage.

Once he did that, Zach Mercer’s pass fell to the ground, apparently from the hand of Newcastle’s Sammy Arnold, which would have resulted in a scrum for the hosts.

But according to the referee – this was not picked up on the reference mic – Anscombe, who seemed angry at Tempest’s handling of the advantage, then swore at him.

The referee duly took decisive action, blowing his whistle and sternly telling the fly-half to “come here now”.

He continued: “This is really unacceptable, go ahead. It’s gone now. What you just told me. You know exactly what you just said.

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Tempest then explained to Gloucester captain Lewis Ludlow what had happened, saying: “I have an advantage, I called him and he shouted and swore at me. Yellow card, he leaves.

TNT Sports commentator Jamie Lyall called it a “profanity-laden outburst from Gareth Anscombe, and Ian Tempest had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

Anscombe eventually returned to the field in time for Newcastle to claw back a score from Jamie Blamire, but two more tries via Christian Wade and Josh Hathaway earned the Cherry and Whites a dominant 36-7 triumph.

Back in the Wales team

The Welsh playmaker was a late substitute after having no further trouble with the match officials, but he can perhaps count himself lucky that it was only a yellow card and not a a red one.

If that was the case, the center could have faced a ban, which would have been a major blow for Warren Gatland ahead of the Autumn Nations Series.

The 33-year-old is one of two fly-halves named in the squad for November’s matches against Fiji, Australia and South Africa.

A suspension would have made Sam Costelow the favorite to take the number 10 jersey for their opening match against the Flying Fijians.

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