Cheika chafes at Fiji cheek

WALLABIES coach Michael Cheika has called out Fiji for breaching one of rugby’s most sacred rules after the Pacific Islanders went ahead with a complaint against Australian winger Reece Hodge despite the matter having already been dealt with on the field.

Hodge is facing a World Cup ban for a tackle most agree was a courageous trysaver after the citing commissioner charged him with an “act of foul play”.

Cheika said he was confident Hodge would be cleared when he faced the judiciary, but he wasn’t impressed by Fiji’s decision to escalate the matter after both the referee and the television match official looked at the tackle during the match and said Hodge did nothing wrong.

“Probably the most disappointing thing was the Fijians,” Cheika said.

“After the game we had a lot of friendly discussion with myself and the coach. There was no mention of anything.

“And then to get a referral and the way it was referred — that was really disappointing. I don’t find that in the spirit of the game at all.”

Cheika said if the situation had been reversed, there’s no way he would ask for an opposing player to be cited, because he’s a great believer in rugby’s universal bond that what happens on the field should stay on the field.

“I prefer they come up to me and get upset with me if they were really upset about it,” Cheika said.

“Not to then talk to me in that nice sort of friendly, chitty-chat way and then put in a referral.”

The Wallaby coach said he was also shocked when he was told the citing commissioner had decided to charge Hodge for his tackle on Fijian flanker Peceli Yato, because it went against everything the officials told the coaches before the World Cup began.

Just last week, all the World coaches met with citing commission boss Steven Hinds, who told them that the officials didn’t want to ruin the physical nature of rugby by banning people for accidental hits such as Hodge’s.

“They explained the way things would work, which all sounded really good, to be honest,” Cheika said.

“Steven Hinds mentioned that if a team of four (referees) had dealt with it on the day, that it would have to be clear and obvious for it to get cited.

“I think it was pretty clear that all the officials dealt with it on the day.”