Darcy Swain will face a judiciary hearing on Monday after being cited for a “reckless and dangerous” clean-out, which resulted in All Blacks centre Quinn Tupaea suffering a MCL injury.
Tupaea, 23, will spend at least three months on the sidelines following the incident, which occurred in the 35th minute.
The replacement centre was at a breakdown when Swain originally legally attempted a cleanout, before a second attempt where he made contact with the knees of the centre.
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Swain was shown a yellow card for the incident, while Tupaea was forced off with his coach Ian Foster unimpressed by the nature of the incident.
“We’ve got a big issue with it,” Foster said in his post-match press conference.
“We’ve got a player who’s probably out for nine months and you’re not allowed to target legs on the side at cleanout past the ball.
“The rules are pretty clear.”
Respected retired international referee Nigel Owens said Swain was fortunate to escape with a red card despite acknowledging it was a “tricky one”.
“Forgot the outcome of this, it is a careless clear-out and it could warrant a red card in itself and whether he deliberately targets that area, he does target that area which is something World Rugby have asked referees to clamp down on, and this could well warrant a red card,” Owens told foxsports.com.au.
“It is a tricky one, there will be a lot of arguments that a yellow card is sufficient.
“There’ll also be justified arguments that a red card would be justified as well, particularly on the outcome of it. But you’ve got to be very careful that you’re not always basing your decisions on an outcome.”
At the time, Foster’s counterpart Dave Rennie disagreed with the yellow card shown to Swain.
“I’m not convinced about Darcy Swain’s, it was certainly nothing intentional; ironically he got neck-rolled prior to him cleaning out but that wasn’t picked up,” Rennie said.
“The other ones were regarded as cynical, so fair enough, that’s the way they see.”
But the Sanzaar Citing Commissioner evidently saw it differently, believing the incident met the red card threshold under Law 9.11: players must not do anything that is reckless and dangerous to others.
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Foster confirmed on Friday that Tupaea’s injury was not as bad as first feared, believing the Chiefs star would likely spend the next three months sidelined.
“We’ll wait and see whether its operable or whether he rehabs,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“But he is crushed. Injuries like this are always disappointing for the players.”
With David Havili also suffering a concussion, Foster is short of genuine inside centre options.
He could turn to Jordie Barrett, who has spent time at second five for the Hurricanes in the position, to fill the void if indeed Havili fails to recover in time.
But the injuries could also pave the way for former NRL star Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to play his second Test, after debuting against Ireland in July.
“I thought the guys adapted well,” Foster said.
“We know Jordie is competent at 12, and he is keen to play there at some point.
“We’ve got Roger playing [at 12] tomorrow (for Auckland), so we’ll have a good look at that. We’ve also got Leicester Fainga’anuku who could fill in there.”
