Andy Farrell will be hoping to draw a line through the fallout of Tadhg Furlong's citing last week, but the discourse surrounding the incident looks likely to put a spotlight on how Ireland's players are approaching the ruck this month.

Furlong had been cited after an allegation that he had grabbed the testicles of Munster's Gavin Coombes during their BKT United Rugby Championship Interpro just over a week ago.

Footage showed the Leinster tighthead prop attempting to clear Coombes at a breakdown by putting an arm under his legs and lifting him off the ball.

However, with no clear footage of Furlong attempting to target the testicles of the Munster player, he was unanimously cleared of wrongdoing by an independent disciplinary committee, which added that Coombes had given "an honest account of his recollection of events surrounding the incident."

As expected, news of an Irish player escaping a suspension before an international break didn't escape the attention of Rassie Erasmus, whose incendiary social media posts on Friday have now unleashed the fury of thousands of South African keyboard warriors on Irish rugby, three weeks out from a meeting between the two sides.

Erasmus will no doubt play dumb. By not directly referencing the Furlong citing, there might be just enough plausible deniability to wriggle away from trouble, even if all 230,000 of his followers on X knew what he was talking about.

The reason for the South African ire over Furlong (below) escaping a sanction stems from Bulls hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels copping a nine-game ban for the same offence last year.

The hooker was cited and banned after an allegation by Connacht's Josh Murphy that the South African had grabbed his testicles at a ruck, which prompted Murphy to strike the Bulls player, for which he was red-carded. Wessels escaped punishment on the night, and there was no TV footage showing him commit the offence, the citing passed and he was suspended.

The major difference between the two cases was the context of how the players came together. In the case of Wessels against Connacht, the flashpoint occurred as both players were tangled up in a slow ruck, with Murphy lashing out in retaliation at something which he claimed happened off the ball.

The defence offered on behalf of Furlong, and which was ultimately accepted by the committee, was that he was attempting to move Coombes off the ball in a rugby incident.

With such a strict penalties applied to players who make contact either with the head or lower leg of opponents at the breakdown, the current approach – at least in this case – appears to be around getting under the leg of the player and lifting them away from the ruck.

And Ireland forwards coach Paul O'Connell explains how there is such a fine balance in getting that manoeuvre right.

"You're always trying to depower someone, trying to grab them," he says.

"You can’t tip them over, you see. So, if you go lower here [points to lower leg], you end up tipping [them] over. But if you’re higher, you can depower them.

"It’s the same in the maul. If you put your hands on the leg, you get penalised but if you’re higher, you’re okay.

"You’re going to come in contact with the private parts at some stage or another. And sometimes I would say it can feel pretty intentional or whatever. So again, it's just another thing you have to be careful.

"When you’re approaching the ruck we want to be really low on the clean out. But you’re trying to avoid that head contact all the time.

"You’re trying to coach [that] discipline is really important, winning the penalty count and trying to keep 15 players in the field.

"You’re always trying to avoid these things that may lead to an accidental head collision or maybe now an accidental collision with the private parts."

Following the news that Furlong's citing was dismissed, Munster issued a statement on behalf of their new interim CEO Avan Lee, in which they continued to back Coombes' claim, while also hitting out at what they described as "unhelpful commentary from people with a clear influence over public perception".

While not referring to any specific individual, it appeared to be aimed at former Leinster captain and current Ireland assistant Johnny Sexton, who had publicly backed Furlong's character before the citing.

"I don't think Johnny would have meant anything bad by that," O'Connell added.

"I know Gav [Coombes] very well. Gav has been in with us loads of times and will be in with us again in the future, and he's a fantastic player as well. I suppose he felt something happened.

"Tadhg felt whatever happened, happened by accident, and it was just unfortunate.

"Coaches do have to speak up for their players and protect their players. Leinster have to do that. Munster have to do it. So it's just important everyone moves on now."