The wait goes on over that ruling

Steve Hansen is still waiting for World Rugby to front over the controversial finish to the British and Irish Lions series.

Almost seven weeks have passed since Frenchman Romain Poite sparked a firestorm by reversing his decision to penalise Lions hooker Ken Owens in the waning seconds of the drawn third test at Eden Park, yet silence has followed calls for an explanation.

While unwilling to rip into the subject when speaking to media yesterday, All Blacks coach Hansen was clearly frustrated World Rugby referees boss Alain Rolland hadn’t cleared the air.

‘‘Yeah. Disappointing? Yeah,’’ Hansen replied when asked if he was surprised New Zealand Rugby had been blanked out. He then told media to ‘‘ring him [Rolland] up and ask him’’ for an explanation.

Poite copped it from all angles after the 15-15 draw, enraging fans who seconds earlier were celebrating a penalty, which would have set up a match, and series, winning penalty attempt.

Hansen – mostly – bit his tongue in the post-match press conference, but did offer a view.

‘‘We all know what happened and we all know probably what should have happened. But it’s a game and as little kids we’re taught to take the good with the bad, and we have to do that.

‘‘That’s all I want to talk about. If you ask me questions about that I’m not going to go there. We’re accepting of whatever the decisions were made. Whether we agree with them or not is something we’ll do our talking to the referees about.’’

Lions coach Warren Gatland had a different spin on the incident, claiming his side should have had a penalty because All Blacks captain Kieran Read connected with Liam Williams in the air, and the Lions fullback didn’t have ‘‘any chance’’ of playing the ball.