Clarification sought over Savea replacement chaos
An apparent error by the match officials may have forced the All Blacks to play without Ardie Savea for 50 minutes in the 23-12 second test loss to Ireland in Dunedin.
Against the All Blacks’ wishes, Savea was permanently replaced after 32 minutes on Saturday following a chaotic spell when tightheads Ofa Tuungafasi (yellow card) and Angus Ta’avao (red card) were both sent from the field.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster yesterday said they would be looking for answers from World Rugby head of match officials Joel Jutge, with their understanding that they should have been allowed to replace No 6 Dalton Papalii, not Savea.
‘‘There was clearly confusion around the red card and what could happen after that,’’ a diplomatic Foster said. ‘‘To be fair to everyone it was a revolving door there for a little while, but we’re seeking clarification, and what happened was not what we thought should happen.
‘‘There’s no doubt that we wanted Ardie to go back on.’’
The complex set of events boils down to one issue: the All Blacks’ belief that they should have been allowed to choose between Savea or Papalii as a replacement.
During the test, referee Jaco Peyper and his sideline colleagues insisted to All Blacks manager Darren Shand that they could not, but in post-match remarks on Saturday Foster had hinted the officials had retrospectively admitted to an error.
‘‘My understanding was the opposite of the officials’ understanding,’’ he said. ‘‘And they told us that they had to live with the decision they made.’’
The confusion was caused by a strange course of events that meant the All Blacks were obliged to withdraw Savea to get another prop on the field after Ta’avao’s red card, even though Aidan Ross can only play loosehead and uncontested scrums were needed in any case.
The bizarre scenes also left veteran hooker Codie Taylor in a state of confusion after the test.*
‘‘He [Savea] is one of the best players, if not the best player in the world at the moment,’’ Taylor said afterwards. ‘‘When he goes off the field . . . with his ability you want him on the field.
‘‘I’m not quite sure what happened there.’’
The All Blacks were always going to struggle with a man down against a quality Ireland side, but All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith said they also needed to look in the mirror.
‘‘I think playing with 14 men is pretty tough for a large period of that game, so we’re going to have to be a lot better,’’ he said.
‘‘But there were a lot of things we could control with our cleanouts, our ball carry and like I said around our skill execution of forcing things.
‘‘We were just a bit off. They didn’t really put us away but they had that scoreboard pressure of a 10-point buffer that made us having to play a bit more.’’
‘‘There was clearly confusion around the red card and what could happen after that.’’ All Blacks coach Ian Foster