Confirmed: Savea banned by Super Rugby Judiciary for throat-slit gesture

All Blacks star Ardie Savea has been banned for one week for his throat-slit gesture against the Rebels.

The Hurricanes captain performed the gesture as he made his way off AAMI Park after being shown a yellow card for his role in a skirmish against the Rebels on the stroke of half-time.

After some lip from Ryan Louwrens, Savea aimed the throat-slitting gesture towards the Rebels halfback.

The action went viral across the internet, as departing Wallaby Reece Hodge told referee James Doleman: “He’s threatened to kill him”.

Savea later apologised for his action and said it was out of character and added that it was a “warrior game” and he lost control in the heat of the action.

On Saturday night, he was cited for contravening Law 9.27: “A player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship.”

Ardie Savea will fight charges at a SANZAAR Judiciary Hearing on Tuesday night after his throat-slitting gesture caused a storm on March 03, 2023, in Melbourne. Photo: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

On Tuesday night, the SANZAAR Justiciary Hearing found Savea in breach of Disciplinary Rule 6.1 and was issued a warning.

Although the throat-slitting gesture was not found to breach the red card threshold, the fact that he had already been shown a yellow card and was issued with a warning meant the two combined meant he would be treated as if he was sent off.

SANZAAR Disciplinary Rule 6.1 states: “6.1: If a Player has received two Warnings or a combination of a Warning and a yellow card during a Match, he shall be treated for disciplinary purposes as if he had been sent off.”

As a result, Savea was suspended for one week.

“The Foul Play Review Committee conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, and oral submissions from his legal representative, Mr Aaron Lloyd,” Nigel Hampton KC ruled.
 
“With respect to sanction the Foul Play Review Committee ruled, after considering a number of factors, including the guidance of World Rugby Regulation 17 Appendix 4, and due to the nature of the Player’s persistent offending, with both the Yellow Card and the Warning being issued for unsportsmanlike play, that an appropriate sanction for the Player would be a suspension of 1 week.
 
“That was accepted by the player, and the player is therefore suspended for 1 week, up to and including Saturday 11 March 2023.”

Earlier, All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens believed Savea was “sincere” in his apology and hope the charge was dropped, while respected pundit Morgan Turinui agreed despite believing it was a poor look.

“I thought it was really poor from Ardie at the time,” Turinui told Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts.

“I do think it is on the edge of lots of things we see in the game, it is a combat sport rugby. You need to physically dominate your opposition to win games. It is that line of pseudo-violence and brutality, and these are words that teams use. The Wallabies use the word brutality as a way that they prepare for a game.

“But what I loved was that he got to the end of the game, Drew Mitchell interviews him, he puts his hand up, he said, ‘I’m better than that.’ And you know what, I’m going to judge him for his 15 years of positive involvements in the game and being an absolute superstar and a great leader and human-being, and one little off-the-cuff mark in the heat of the battle, I think yellow card’s about right.

“Let’s move on and enjoy the rugby. I wouldn’t be sanctioning him any further.”

All Blacks legend Sir John Kirwan agreed.

“No, total mistake from Ardie but he fronted up straight away and apologised,” Kirwan told Sky’s The Breakdown panel.

“It should not go to judicial, I believe. We want to send a strong message to kids, but that was it [his apology], ‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I wasn’t good enough and I need to get better’, that’s what you want from your leaders.

“We need to be a bit careful too as sometimes we make those gestures during the haka. Like he said it is a warrior [moment].

“Did he make a mistake? Yes. Do we want to see it in our game? No. But he apologised and did that really well.”

All Blacks’ coaching race heats up as a third player emerges

Meanwhile, a two-horse race to become Ian Foster’s successor appears to have a third contender.

Reports across the ditch say Foster’s assistant, Joe Schmidt, is strongly considering throwing his hat in the ring to become the next All Blacks coach.

Hitherto, Crusaders coach Scott Robertson and Japan’s widely respected coach, Jamie Joseph, have been the only two players in the game to take over from Foster.

But following New Zealand Rugby’s announcement last week that the governing body hopes to appoint Foster’s successor in the next “four to six weeks”, Schmidt is seemingly weighing up a late run.

Assistant coach Joe Schmidt is reportedly strongly weighing up throwing his hat in the ring to coach the All Blacks next year. Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

While Robertson is the strong favourite, having been lined up to take over from Foster had the All Blacks lost back-to-back Tests in South Africa last year, Schmidt, like Joseph, is widely respected.

The 57-year-old coached Ireland through two World Cups and while he didn’t manage to get through to the final four in either campaign, he saw the Irish reach the top on World Rugby’s standings.

He also spearheaded Ireland to victories over the All Blacks in Chicago and Dublin.

Schmidt was also credited with overseeing Leinster’s rise to the top of European rugby, and that overseas experience is highly valued.

Stuff.co and the New Zealand Herald report that Schmidt is well respected by the the playing group.

Wallabies’ World Cup boost

Just days after Eddie Jones seemingly said Quade Cooper was firmly in his World Cup plans, the soon-to-be 35-year-old took his first major steps towards returning to action.

The Kintetsu Liners playmaker, who didn’t lose a Test under Dave Rennie in six matches but had his campaign cruelly cut short by a season-ending Achilles injury last August, has run for the first time since his major injury setback.

Cooper posted on his social media vision of him running for the first time.

The sight is a major boost for the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign, with the veteran playmaker showing a new-found maturity in his game since his stunning comeback to the international arena in 2021.

On Sunday, Jones said he had spoken to Cooper recently and appeared to lock in him as one of three playmakers during an interview on the ABC’s Offsiders.

“He’s recovering well. I had a quick chat in Brisbane. He looked full of beans,” Jones told Offsiders.

“He’s going back to play for his club in Japan, Kintetsu, who aren’t doing too well. They haven’t won a game, so they need a bit of Quade magic. So to get his confidence back, get them to win a few games and we’ll see where he can take us.”

Pressed on the No.10 jersey, Jones said the Springboks’ World Cup success had broken all the rules and he wouldn’t be guided by history.

“In 2019, before Rassie [Erasmus] took over South Africa in 2018, they were winning less than 40 per cent of their games. No team has won the World Cup losing a game before South Africa, so there’s the opportunity to do different things,” he said.

“We’ll need to have three 10s at the World Cup. Quade could be one of them, could be one of them, and the other two spots are wide open.”