Turbos seek clarification

Manawatu¯ Turbos coach Peter Russell is seeking clarification from higher beings following the officiating in his team’s match against Hawke’s Bay.

The crowd spotted Hawke’s Bay wing Mason Emerson clattering into Manawatu’s Te Rangatira Waitokia 10 minutes into the game on Sunday in a late and high tackle.

The upshot is that Waitokia will be out for at least two weeks after taking a heavy blow to the head and bone bruising to a knee.

‘‘He is going through concussion protocols. It was reckless and dangerous,’’ Russell said.

The Turbos referred it to the New Zealand Rugby Union judicial officer on Sunday night, rather than officially citing Emerson, and the dismissive response was it didn’t fit red-card parameters, discussion over.

Maybe not, but Emerson plays on without sanction and Waitokia is out. It would have been a yellow card for sure had Taranaki referee Cam Stone or the two Manawatu¯ touch judges spotted the incident and Hawke’s Bay would not have rolled on for an eventual try off an ensuing lineout.

His next port of call will be to the referees’ performance manager. After closely perusing the match footage, the Turbos have discovered countless calls that went against them and which allowed Hawke’s Bay to command territory and roll down field on the back of penalties in foul weather. Although, the Turbos were not blameless, contributing with handling errors of their own.

But nothing was spotted from the sideline assistant referees.

‘‘I commend Hawke’s Bay for what they did,’’ Russell said. ‘‘We didn’t get our hands on the ball enough.’’ But he said the scoreboard, which read 31-13, didn’t reflect Manawatu¯ ’s effort. Their tackling completion was satisfactory at 88 per cent when the aim is 90 and above.

Meanwhile, the torrential rain this week meant all training grounds were closed and there wasn’t any grass to train on. So, on Tuesday the Turbos had to run through their plays and defensive systems on the all-weather surface at the Vautier Park netball venue.

They play Taranaki at CET Arena at 2.05pm on Saturday.