Fiji Drua coach Mick Byrne has slammed a flaw in the framework of the rugby law after his side were forced to go down to 13 men late in their match against the Waratahs.
The former Wallabies and All Blacks assistant, who won two World Cups with New Zealand, also hit out at the unfair challenges his side face in Super Rugby, after one of his players was last week declared to have failed his Head Injury Assessment but only because he couldn’t understand English.
Trailing 31-17 against the Waratahs in the 68th minute, the Drua copped a blow when replacement hooker Zuriel Togiatama was shown a yellow card following multiple team penalties.
But in a double dose of pain, the Drua were forced to play the next 10 minutes with 13 men after not being able to field a fit pack to contest a scrum following injuries to two front-rowers.
“For those who like me think what an absurdity that you should lose two players just because of a yellow card, the rules are there to encourage you to not get a yellow card,” former All Blacks star Andrew Mehrtens said in commentary for Stan Sport.
“They infringed, they got a yellow card, they can’t replace it and so an extra man down. Play by the rules or you’ll get penalised.”
Fiji Drua head coach Mick Byrne was left livid in Melbourne following a technicality that left his side down an extra man Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Former Wallabies vice-captain Morgan Turinui explained the law was in place to ensure teams didn’t take advantage of a circumstance.
“It also guards, of course, against coaches,” he said.
“If we can say this as diplomatically as possible, tactically seeing their scrum under pressure five metres out and miraculously having a ‘deadwood call’ where a player goes down and you go to uncontested as a tactical option. It is a harsh penalty the Drua will pay now.”
Mehrtens added: “Especially when they’ve got to put eight in the scrum, which only leaves five defenders, including the halfback.”
After a long delay in the play, Fiji put their playmaker Caleb Muntz in the scrum.
The No.10 comically adding before putting his head in the scrum: “No pushing, no pushing.”
The Waratahs scored two quick tries, including one to teen sensation Max Jorgensen directly after the long delay.
Byrne slammed the law in his post-match press conference.
“It’s an indictment on the game,” he said.
“You’ve got a law to stop coaches cheating. We go down to 13 men because we’ve got an injured hooker, we’ve got an injured prop, we can’t physically contest the scrum and we’ve got to go down to 13 men.”
Mick Byrne says his side was impacted by not being able to speak English during a Head Injury Assessment process. Photo Peter Meecham/Getty Images
Adding to his frustration was that Frank Lomani, the excellent Fijian international halfback, was forced to leave the field to undergo a HIA despite not having any symptoms. He was later cleared to return.
But a week earlier, Byrne lost one of his props to a HIA, which resulted in him being stood down for 12 days under World Rugby’s new concussion policy, because he could not understand English.
“Last week we had a HIA where the doctor spoke in English to a player that doesn’t understand English, and he didn’t get the question right because he didn’t understand the question and we had to stand him down for 12 days,” Byrne said.
“There’s challenges for us. I’m not hiding away under excuses because we came out today and we went hard at them. It’s just a challenge for us.”
Asked whether he would formally raise the concern with Super Rugby officials, Byrne said he hoped the matter would be addressed and fixed going forward.
“Last week was an issue for us,” he said.
“A player was asked in English what stadium he’s at? Unfortunately for our boys, he didn’t have a clue where he was.”
After being forced to be on the road for much of last year, Byrne said he was excited for his team to play in front of their home fans.
“We’ll get back, we’ll recover. We’ll get on our flight, we’ll get back there, we’ll recover during the week, and we’ll be looking forward to waiting this week for a team to come over to us and not have to get back on a flight,” he said.
“That’s exciting. Our fans will be there and we’re looking forward to welcoming the Crusaders. You saw the crowd that was there with the Chiefs last year and they’ll be there yelling and screaming next week. “I just feel really proud of what our guys did in that first half and the first few minutes of the second half.”
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