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Wales were left fuming with a head-high tackle by Dan Carter that went unpunished in their 19-12 loss to New Zealand.
The All Blacks playmaker tracked back magnificently after Shane Williams had stepped his markers to produce a crunching, try-saving tackle on Martin Roberts, who had the line at his mercy in the 71st minute with the score at 19-9.
Luckily for Carter, neither South African referee Craig Joubert nor his assistants noticed the outside-half’s swinging arm which seemed to make full contact with Roberts’ head and shoulders, an act that would normally see a player penalised at best, sin-binned at worse.
Asked whether Carter, who was booed by the crowd whenever he touched the ball after the incident, should have been yellow carded, Wales coach Warren Gatland was adamant: “Yes, I do.
“It’s a break in the opposition 22, someone’s there, if it’s a legitimate tackle it’s hopefully quick ball but it’s a head-high tackle with a swinging arm and it should have been three points and a yellow card.
“It was a pretty high tackle. A guy makes the break in the 22 and you feel that if that’s the other end it’s three points and a yellow card and all the officials missed it so we’re pretty disappointed.”
Defence coach Shaun Edwards added: “We should have played against 14 men for the last 10 minutes.
“It was clear for all to see. I’ve seen players sin binned or even sent off for that.”
But New Zealand coach Graham Henry was quick to downplay Carter’s tackle, saying it was a “bit of a stretch” to consider carding him for it.
“I saw it at the moment, I didn’t look at the replay at all, but it seemed to me that he hit him around the chest and stood up and the other guy slid under,” Henry said.
Carter kicked four penalties and converted Andew Hore’s sole try of the game, and was crucial in marshalling both the visiting side’s defence and attack in a hard-fought game that was tied 6-6 at halftime.
“Carter has a superb kicking game,” acknowledged Gatland. “He’s a world class player who doesn’t make too many mistakes.
“It’s pleasing to play against him. We’ve got the All Blacks three times in the next 12 months.
“We’ve got a really good build-up over the next two years going to the World Cup and we’re playing the best countries and regularly.
“We think we’re closing the gap. We have to make sure we keep improving. We’ve got Samoa on Friday, then Argentina and Australia. It’s important over the four-game series that we can’t just have a good performance this evening but keep improving with each game.”
Gatland, who played 17 times for the All Blacks without making a Test appearance, admitted that New Zealand’s purple patch at the start of the second-half had secured victory and deprived Wales of a first victory over their rivals since 1953.
“The All Blacks dominated the game in that third quarter. They came out after half-time,” he said.
“The pleasing thing is that we finished strongly and then put them under some pressure.”
Henry, whose side also play Italy, England and France, also had a bone to pick with the match officials, saying he though the television match official who disallowed three All Black tries had made a mistake on at least one.
“It was a highly competitive Test match,” the former Wales coach said. “I thought we could have won by more, to be honest.
“I thought Conrad Smith scored and that would have given us a bit of a gap.
“We had three tries looked at by the TMO, I think one was pretty obvious and that would have made a difference.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.