Rugby News: SANZAAR make Swain call after review, ABs angry at Tupaea injury, Foley's true impact revealed

Wallabies lock Darcy Swain will face a SANZAAR judiciary on Wednesday afternoon (AEST) after he was cited for his cleanout on Quinn Tupaea in Bledisloe I.

The SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee met on Monday to consider the incident, which had been sent to them after it was deemed to have met a red card threshold.

The review committee had the power to dismiss the case or send it on to a SANZAAR Judicial Committee Hearing and it chose the latter option.

Swain is alleged to have contravened Law 9.11: Players must not do anything that is reckless and dangerous to others, during the match between Australia and New Zealand at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.

The Judicial Committee for the Hearing will be Andre Oosthuizen SC (Chair), De Wet Barry and José Luis Rolandi and it will be held via video conference on Wednesday at 5:00pm (AEST).

Tupaea will miss several months after suffering knee ligament damage. The tackle enraged the New Zealanders.

“I feel for Quinn,” said Beauden Barrett. “He basically didn’t see it coming. He was a sitting duck – it was a bit of a free shot. I feel for him because he’s going to be out of the game for a long time and I’m not too sure what’s happening in their camp with Darcy Swain. We don’t like to see these sorts of injuries.”

Aaron Smith added: “Seeing Quinn like that on Friday was pretty tough,” he said. “You always feel for the brothers. Injuries happen in rugby, but some can be controlled …”

“We’ve got a big issue with it,” coach Ian 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.”

On Monday, Will Genia wrote on The Roar that he felt the Swain hit was intentional. Swain’s coach Dave Rennie and teammates have said it was an accident.

What Foley brought to Bledisloe I

There are still some wallabies fans – including a large section of The Roar readership – who remain unconvinced about Bernard Foley’s impact in Melbourne beyond the obvious controversy at the end.

But his teammates were happy to describe the difference he brought to the side in Bledisloe I.

“They call him the Iceman and he’s always controlled and he’s always calm and it gives you a lot of confidence,” said Lalakai Foketi.

“He asks what you want from him, and vice versa. All week we trained together and we were just getting, combinations. When I moved to the Tahs  in 2018, we played together a fair bit. He’s just calm and collected all the time and if there’s something that ever went wrong, or you did something (wrong), he’d never get up you.

“He’d pull you up off the ground and tell you your next job, so it was great to have him inside me.”

Bernard Foley of the Wallabies (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)

After the game Dave Rennie said Foley felt like he let the team down through his part in the last few minutes.

“You could tell he was down and he was disappointed in the result. But there was no need for him to apologise to us,” Foketi said.

“We all thought he had a great game and he was one of the main reasons why we had an opportunity to compete for the win. We back Nardy 100 percent, we back everyone in here so we don’t feel like he needs to apologise.”

Allan Alaalatoa added that Foley was a big reason for the comeback from 31-13 down in the second half.

“We were under the sticks and Nard just  came in and calmed the boys down,” Alaalatoa said. “He was awesome for us in that moment. We didn’t want to steer away from our game plan, we wanted to continue to take it to them and have that belief and I thought that moment was huge for us, because that was kind of the turning point for us – having that calm, experienced message from Nard.”

He said it was a simple but clear message: “Just to keep doing what we’re doing. Have belief in our game plans, not to go out of our system and try and pull something out of our arses.

“That’s what happened. The boys stuck to our game plan and then really gave us the opportunity to win that.”

Super recruits named

The Waratahs and Brumbies named new recruits to their 2023 squads on Monday.

The Brumbies have signed experienced flyhalf Jack Debreczeni, a 29-year-old with 61 SR games to his credit for the Rebels and Chiefs.

He recently returned to Australia after finishing up his time with the Hino Red Dolphins in Japan’s Top League and has been playing for West Harbour in Sydney’s Shute Shield.
 
“It’s great to be back in Super Rugby and to be joining an awesome club like the Brumbies,” he said in a statement.

The Tahs, meanwhile, announced the promotion of outside back Max Jorgensen – son of former Wallaby Peter – to the full squad from their academy.

Jorgensen is currently in Year 12 at St Joseph’s College and has spent three years in the NSW system representing the Waratahs Academy at U15, U16, and U18 age levels.

He was a member of the Junior Wallabies program this year and has been named in the Waratahs Development team to take on a Brumbies XV on Saturday.

Waratahs Head Coach, Darren Coleman said: “Securing Max is a positive outcome, not only for the Waratahs but for Australian Rugby, as he is one of the elite schoolboys from the class of 2022 and highly sought after.

“It’s great he has decided to remain at the Waratahs especially after spending the past three years in our academy.

“Max understands he has a long way to go and a lot of work to do before he can become a fully-fledged Super Rugby player, but we look forward to working with him and helping him develop his game.”