Ardie Savea had to choke back tears after being denied a match-winning try in his side’s heartbreaking 37-33 loss to the Brumbies in Canberra.
After five minutes of attacking the Brumbies’ line in search of the match-winning try, Savea was ruled to have been held up by Luke Reimer in the 85th minute.
Savea immediately celebrated the try but, crucially, referee Nic Berry saw no clear grounding and therefore sent the action up to the Television Match Official, where no compelling evidence was deemed to have been found to overturn the decision.
“Oh wow, it came down to that last play and, as much as I disagree, that’s just the way footy is and it doesn’t go your way, sometimes it does,” Savea told Stan Sport commentator and former Wallaby Morgan Turinui.
“You’ve just got to live with it. I’m immensely proud of my boys. I said in the first half we have to leave everything out and I felt like we did. But that’s credit to the Brumbies, they stuck in there and defence wins you games and that’s what happened.”
Ardie Savea celebrated after believing he scored the match-winning try against the Brumbies in Canberra. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Asked by Turinui whether he thought he grounded the ball, Savea was emphatic that he did.
“I scored it, brother. Initially, I scored it and then he held me up. But it is what it is, man,” Savea said.
“I’m gutted, but honestly I’m just truly grateful and blessed to be here and play this game for my club and my team. It’s pretty special.”
The held up ruling meant the Hurricanes weren’t afforded another chance to break the Brumbies’ line, which had held out the visitors against the odds after a wave of pressure and penalties.
“It’s just unfortunate. We got ourselves in the right area of the field in the last 10 minutes but we just couldn’t capitalise on it. That’s disappointing, but it is what it is,” said Savea, who will join Dave Rennie’s Kobe Steelers for the 2024 League One season before returning to New Zealand in June, 2024.
“I can sit here and complain, I can sit here and sulk, but at the end of the day you can’t change it.
“I look at the positives, I’m injury free and I get to go back and spend time with my kids and family, and spend time with the boys and celebrate the season and the boys that are leaving the club.”
Ardie Savea remonstrates with the referee over the final decision on June 10, 2023, in Canberra. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Brumbies fullback Tom Wright, who scored a crucial try to put his side in front, credited Reimer for his match-sealing effort.
“Lukey Reimer, it’s a 15-man effort there at the end but it takes one guy’s hand to get under the ball and do something special. But something special just looks like your job a lot of the time and gets unrewarded on the TV, but he’s our go to finisher at the moment and he just did it again,” Wright said.
It was the second straight season the Brumbies have knocked the Hurricanes out in the quarter-finals, having beaten the men based out of Wellington 35-25 in 2022.
The Brumbies will play the Chiefs in Hamilton next Saturday, while the wounded Crusaders will take on the Blues after smashing the Fiji Drua 49-8.
Double Agent The First
Roar Rookie
I'm worried about Ardie. I can see him 30 years from now shuffling and muttering around Westfields and berating the plastic Labrador for Blind dogs insisting 'I scored it brother'. :shocked:
Passit2me
Roar Rookie
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: West, I was reacting to the Kiwi "victim" above my post. I often thought the Aussie posters in here were harsh when they would call you guys one eye. But maybe I was wrong eh....?
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I concur. I admit to being unhappy with the degree of certainty he'd given in his commentary when I saw it on social media but hadn't read the whole interview. This is perfectly reasonable and very mature. He's gutted but he was classy. Apologies for my earlier thoughts on the matter, Ardie
WEST
Roar Guru
Wow real victim mentality.. Surprised the Aussie players take the field knowing they’ve lost before it even starts. Really hope the players don’t listen to this BS.. If they do, actually make sense why it’s not very successful
WEST
Roar Guru
Forget about it.. your talking to a brick wall. It’s done now. Unfortunate way for Ardie to end his time with the Canes. Is, what it is
WEST
Roar Guru
Not much of that around here :silly:
KiwiEagle
Roar Rookie
Affinity bias, an unconscious act that people exhibit without realizing it. When we have a comp where there literally can't be neutral refereeing (with no disrespect to the Pacific Islands) these arguments are going to rage forever. As a Kiwi I almost feel NZ refs are harder on our teams but that could be affinity bias......
Rugbynutter
Roar Rookie
I thought Ardie handed it well and understood as he said that is footy where sometimes you are on the right side of the ledger and sometimes you are not. Healthy attitude to take.
KiwiEagle
Roar Rookie
How does a referee that was on the wrong side of the breakdown rule no try when he couldn't possibly know? Rugby borrowed the concept of the onfield try or no try from League. A much easier game to ref in try scoring situations when there is rarely more than 2 or 3 players involved. The clownshow that is Union refereeing could save itself a lot of headaches if the ref acknowledges he couldn't make an accurate decision and leave it to the TMO. The other stupidity around this ruling is commonsense tells us that unless the ACT no.7 has hands the size of large dinner plates, which he doesn't, Savea must have grounded it and you would know this if you've ever played the game. And Berry has. Which makes the decision even more odd
Hooter
Roar Rookie
Doctordbx, that is gold. That reminds me of the time I got carded for overuse of sarcasm. 10 puts up a midfield bomb, the opposition 15 takes it just as 105kgs of Hooter turns up at full pace and folds him in a copybook waist high tackle. Whistle goes, penalty! "What for?" I ask, "Dangerous tackle." the ref replies. "It's not !@#$ing netball." I protest. Ref reaches into pocket and shows me a slice of cheese.
Hooter
Roar Rookie
"Tom Wright was very unsportsmanlike after scoring the last try, what a disgrace". Yep, I was waiting for the try to be disallowed and a penalty awarded to the Hurricanes. I like Wright, I have met him a couple of times and he seems like a genuine guy, but this is the sort of behaviour that should not be part of our sport.
Hooter
Roar Rookie
Harder to read than a Braille text book with no fingers Tooly.
Hooter
Roar Rookie
Rugbynutter, hard to take the ref out of the game when they are determined to insert themselves into it. This is my key criticism of Berry is that there ALWAYS is a major controversy when he has the whistle.
Cannonball
Roar Rookie
Go the Brumbies!
Hooter
Roar Rookie
TWAS, "We trained well, had some of the best training all year."
Hooter
Roar Rookie
WEST, I agree. Ardie was all class in the interview as he was on the ground. One of my favorite players to watch.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Literally whinging about the refs call
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
swings and roundabouts as the Hurricanes win vs the Rebels was off the back of 2 tries from blatantly illegal turnovers called play on.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
You mean like all the times Aussie captains have been interviewed after getting blatantly robbed in games in NZ reffed by NZ refs and were far more composed?
Passit2me
Roar Rookie
Don't worry, O'Keeffe won't allow the Brumbies to proceed to the Final.