New Zealand assistant coach Ian Foster has dismissed claims that the All Blacks are given an easy ride by referees during Test matches.
Controversy emanated from the yellow card shown to French lock Paul Gabrillagues by referee Luke Pearce during the second-half with France conceding 41-points in under 30 minutes following the forward’s dismissal.
All Blacks flanker Sam Cane and prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi both escaped sanction for making contact with the head of winger Remy Grosso.
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Pearce judged that the tackle was worth just a penalty with Grosso suffering a double facial fracture as a result of the tackle.
World Rugby failed to cite either Tu’ungafasi or Cane for their role in the tackle with the sport’s governing body receiving a citing commissioner warning as it was deemed that his tackle warranted just a yellow card.
“Ofa Tu’ungafasi (New Zealand) has received a citing commissioner warning from independent citing commissioner Free Burger (South Africa) for a breach of Law 9.13 during the 59th minute of the New Zealand vs France match at Eden Park on Saturday 9 June,” a World Rugby statement read.
“Having reviewed all available camera angler, the citing commissioner considered Ofa Tu’ungafasi to have executed a dangerous tackle “just short of” red card level (in accordance with World Rugby Regulation 17), which caused injury to France winger Remy Grosso.”
Foster dismissed claims that referees were more lenient with the All Blacks in comparison to other teams and pointed to New Zealand’s disciplinary record to highlight that they were being punished by officials.
“You have to ask the referees that, but clearly we don’t think we get any favours from the referees at all. They’ve got a tough job and I don’t know a top referee that doesn’t go out there to just ref it the way he sees it.
“I think if you look at the penalty counts [and] yellow cards last year, we were one of the top yellow-carded teams in the world so I’m not sure how this soft on us [notion] comes to fruition.”
Foster added that New Zealand have faith in the judicial system and that they’re trying to get everything right within the legal boundaries of the game.
“Sometimes bad technique takes over so, as a coaching group and as a team, we’re always trying to coach good technique and trying to get everything within the legal bounds of the game.
“But it’s a dynamic game, isn’t it, and things happen and that’s what referees are there for. That’s what the laws are for and I guess that’s what the judiciary are there for and, overall, we’ve got a lot of confidence in that system.”
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