19 CARD CONFUSION
Test rugby in June this year became a confusing business. In the All Blacks first test, French lock Paul was yellow carded for a high tackle on Ryan Crotty that with the benefit of a TV replay, was quite clearly not high.
The problem was that referee Luke Pearce didn’t check the TV footage and just showed the card. It was a rough call and then to give the French a deeper sense of injustice, a few minutes later Sam Cane wasn’t disciplined for what was more obviously a high tackle on wing Remi Grosso.
To complicate matters further, after Grosso was hit by Cane, he was driven into Ofa Tuungafasi’s shoulder and in that collision, his jaw cheek was broken.
It was a high impact challenge and while Tuungafasi’s involvement was accidental, Cane’s didn’t appear to be so much.
Debate raged as to be fair to the French the situation did appear inconsistent and as if the All Blacks had escaped punishment while they hadn’t.