All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens claimed the officials had “no idea” after Samu Kerevi was sent off in Australia’s record 52-20 win over Wales in Cardiff on Monday (AEDT).
Kerevi was initially shown a yellow card by New Zealand referee James Doleman which was then deemed worthy of an upgrade to a 20 minute red after a review from South African TMO Marius van der Westhuizen.
The Wallabies centre, playing in his 50th Test, clattered Wales flanker Jac Morgan high early in the second half as the big Principality Stadium crowd bayed for blood.
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“I’ve kept my silence for long enough,” Mehrtens said from the sidelines on Stan Sport.
“Here at ground level, it was really pronounced that Morgan dropped his height going into that tackle. Kerevi had no time to change to adjust there and I just think that we’re penalising players where they can’t actually do anything different. There’s got to be some culpability assigned to the attacking player if he drops his height late.
“I just feel really sorry for Samu Kerevi sitting off for a tackle he really couldn’t do anything about… eventually, someone’s got to say the emperor’s (referee) got no clothes or, more accurately here, the TMO’s got no idea.”
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It didn’t cost his side on the scoreboard but Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt later expressed his frustration.
“He is distraught. 50th game for the Wallabies and he gets a red card. He was trying to drop into the tackle, I thought,” Schmidt said.
“We will look at that closely, and potentially ask some questions through the right channels.”
Former Wallabies lock Justin Harrison, however, said Kerevi needed to take some accountability.
“They’ll go to work now at looking at mitigating factors, rightly so yellow card,” Harrison said on Stan Sport.
“Samu Kerevi had plenty of time to adjust to hip height, at least chest, to get down. Now, they’ll look for mitigating factors. One of the mitigating factors is the ball carrier does dip into contact late and that may avoid the red card.”
Kerevi’s likely suspension will likely see Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii return to the starting lineup against Scotland.