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The All Blacks have fired at the Wallabies’ tactics and refereeing in the first round of the Bledisloe Cup tied, with late hitting claims and off-the-ball incidents.
Forwards coach John Plumtree was unhappy with the umpiring, particularly around the ruck, during the 16-time stalemate at Wellington and wants it fixed for the second game this weekend at Eden Park.
The Wallabies dominated possession despite giving away more penalties and won the physical battle with the New Zealand front group.
Plumtree believes that many of the Wallabies outside of the ballgame were illegal and is disappointed that the infractions went undetected, however, he acknowledges that the All Blacks had to adapt to the way the game was being called.
“There were some late charges, late hits, you saw all of that. That kind of play on the field has to be dealt with by the referee. There were a number of off-the-ball incidents, but we have to be able to adapt to that as well and that’s why we have a couple of senior players in particular quite excited about that. “
Plumtree claims the Wallabies got away with a lot of dubious tactics off the ball, and he hopes it was a case where the referee didn’t see the incidents, rather than letting them go.
New Zealand’s Paul Williams was in charge of the match in Wellington, and although the All Blacks have not filed any official complaints, Plumtree was not impressed by the referee’s performance.
However, he believes that the All Blacks players did not do enough to match the physicality of the Wallabies and fight fire with fire.
“If Paul missed something, then he missed it. But if it’s a constant habit (from Australia) that he’s watching and it’s not being taken care of, then obviously we’d be disappointed. But if his (the Wallabies’) intention is greater than ours in ball incidents, then we just have to make sure we have a chance. “
Plumtree is not a fan of having New Zealand referees in charge of All Black games. He believes he is putting too much pressure on the referee due to the potential for bias and worries that he has led the Wallabies to get away with an illegal play at Wellington.
“I think it puts a lot of pressure on the referee. Not so much on us, I think it’s on him. The local referees referee us a lot and they know us and everyone knows it. It puts pressure on the referee about being biased. [towards us] and not wanting that perception. “
Meanwhile, several of the best All Blacks are in doubt for Sunday’s second round of the Bledisloe Cup at Eden Park, including top five stars Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett.
Centurion padlock Sam Whitelock is racing to get in shape after not training today with symptoms of concussion.
Mo’unga has shoulder pain while Barrett is battling an Achilles injury.
Whitelock’s availability is certainly under a cloud, but Plumtree is hopeful that Mo’unga and Barrett are right.
“He (Beauden) played a small role in training today, we haven’t caught up with the medical team yet, but it seemed like he was running pretty well. Richie (Mo’unga) has a stinger in his shoulder, but nothing too”. a lot. Sam Whitelock had some headaches after last Sunday’s game, so he’s going to go through the concussion protocol and we’ll see how he does during the week. “
Barrett’s injury is perhaps the most concerning and the most disconcerting.
His Achilles complaint has been holding him back for some time and Plumtree admits the star player could be forced to take a break from rugby to fix the problem.
While the injury was not deemed serious last week in Wellington, it kept him out of the first Bledisloe test and prevented him from training entirely this week.
While Plumtree is hopeful Barrett will be available for Sunday’s game, he admits the injury is proving difficult to overcome and is holding the playmaker back.
“It seems to be a problem for him this year. The Blues (Super Rugby) had the same problems with him when he was there. It’s something that just annoys him and potentially he will have to take a break from the game to clear up.”
It also seems less and less likely that the Springboks will attend the Rugby Championship in Australia.
SANZAAR issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying that the governing body had given South Africa Rugby an additional 48 hours to finalize its decision.
This will delay the scheduled departure of the Springboks from South Africa to Australia.
It appears that the chances of the Springboks taking a full or even limited part in the tournament are slim, as their team hasn’t played enough rugby this year due to Covid-19, leaving them very short on match fitness. and the preparation time.
The Bledisloe Cup matches between Australia and New Zealand on Saturday October 31 and Saturday November 7 in Sydney and Brisbane, respectively, are unaffected and will go ahead as scheduled.