Lack of red cards upsetting for Brown

Hamamutsu – Japan assistant coach Tony Brown added to the outcry over refereeing in the ongoing World Cup yesterday when he took the unusual step of asking questions at his own news conference about two controversial decisions in a rival pool game.

Fellow pool A contenders Samoa survived being reduced to 13 men in the first half of Tuesday’s 34-9 win over Russia when Rey Lee-lo and Motu Matu’u were only given yellow cards for high tackles within two minutes of each other.

After World Rugby publicly criticised officiating over the first weekend shortly before kick-off, referee Romain Poite and his television official judged that Russia captain Vasily Artemyev had ducked his head into the almost identical tackles.

Both players were cited for dangerous tackles yesterday and will now attend disciplinary hearings.

“I’ve just got a question for you guys,” Brown said at the end of a news conference before the citings had been made.

“So I watched the game last night and saw two brutal tackles that should have been red cards, and a punch to the head that didn’t get noticed. Has anyone heard any feedback of what’s happened there? Have they cited the players?”

Samoa double try scorer Ed Fidow was also warned by the citing commissioner for striking an opponent.

World Cup referees have come under scrutiny over the opening weekend and the sport’s governing body said the decision making was not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and the referees themselves.