The online furore over Ruben Love's yellow card in the All Blacks' 29-24 defeat in Soweto traces back to a straightforward case of social media misinformation — screenshots of the wrong breakdown circulating while referee Nika Amashukeli's on-field explanation was talked over by the SuperSport commentary team.
Love was binned in the 35th minute for being offside at the breakdown, but the confusion arose because most viewers assumed he was penalised for his positioning when Manie Libbok went to ground — a moment at which Love was, in fact, onside. The actual offence occurred one breakdown later, when Love's right foot was in front of the tryline as Ox Nche first took possession of the ball.
Amashukeli spelled it out clearly in his referee communication: Quinn Tupaea had already been flagged for offside at the preceding breakdown — the first penalty — before Love committed the same offence at the next phase, triggering the card. "The first offside was by 13 there," Amashukeli said. "Then you are offside here; that's a yellow card."
The sequence that led to the sanction began when Cobus Reinach stripped the ball from Asafo Aumua and launched a Springbok attack from inside their own half. Reinach found Jasper Wiese, who broke through Tupou Vaa'i and George Bower before offloading to Nche, who kept the ball alive for Libbok. The fly-half accelerated into the All Blacks' 22, beat McKenzie and Peter Lakai, and was eventually hauled down by Will Jordan near the tryline. Amashukeli signalled penalty advantage off the ensuing ruck, Jesse Kriel worked his way to the line before Jordie Barrett chopped him down, and Love then launched himself at Nche — the next ball carrier — while standing offside. Nche was held up, the advantage was declined, and the penalty and yellow card were awarded at the breakdown.
World Rugby Laws 9.8–9.10 on repeated infringements gave Amashukeli clear authority to escalate to a card once New Zealand had cynically infringed multiple times in the same passage of play to halt the Springbok attack.