diff --git a/bin/find-unneeded-includes b/bin/find-unneeded-includes
index 423aa4eae64b..1f82f2b044b1 100755
--- a/bin/find-unneeded-includes
+++ b/bin/find-unneeded-includes
@@ -134,6 +134,15 @@ def ignoreRemoval(include, toAdd, absFileName, moduleRules, noexclude):
     if include == "box2d/box2d.h" and "box2d/b2_world.h" in toAdd:
         return True
 
+    # Skip forward declaration of versioned namespaces
+    # see https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/72972
+    # for an example of breakage caused by this
+    if include == "unicode/regex.h":
+        for item in toAdd:
+            match = re.search(r'namespace icu.* class RegexMatcher', item)
+            if match:
+                return True
+
     noRemove = (
         # <https://www.openoffice.org/tools/CodingGuidelines.sxw> insists on not
         # removing this.
diff --git a/i18npool/IwyuFilter_i18npool.yaml b/i18npool/IwyuFilter_i18npool.yaml
index a94ab69792ea..337c7cb60781 100644
--- a/i18npool/IwyuFilter_i18npool.yaml
+++ b/i18npool/IwyuFilter_i18npool.yaml
@@ -82,8 +82,6 @@ excludelist:
     # Base class needs complete type
     - com/sun/star/util/XTextSearch2.hpp
     - com/sun/star/lang/XServiceInfo.hpp
-    # contains versioned namespace so cannot forward declare
-    - unicode/regex.h
     i18npool/source/collator/collator_unicode.cxx:
     # Config options are used in #ifdef
     - config_locales.h