All Blacks star suspended after Japan Red Card

By Liam Napier in Cardiff

Brodie Retallick will have the chance to notch a century for the All Blacks — and potentially break a world record — before this year’s test season concludes after being handed a two-match suspension following his red card against Japan last week.

Retallick received a red card for a cleanout attempt on Japanese loose forward Kazuki Himeno in the 65th minute of the All Blacks underwhelming 38-31 victory in Tokyo.

Fears Retallick’s tour would end with that incident have, however, been allayed.

During the judicial hearing held overnight on Tuesday (NZT), Retallick accepted he had committed an act of foul play but did not agree the offence was worthy of a red card.

The judicial committee upheld the red card, noting Retallick admitted the cleanout was executed with his arm trailing at the point his shoulder made contact with the back of Himeno’s head and/or neck.

On that basis, the committee deemed the act of foul play merited a mid-range entry point of six matches.

Due to Retallick’s clean disciplinary record and mitigating factors, his suspension was cut to three matches — a sanction further reduced by one test when he completes World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme.

Retallick will, therefore, miss tests with Wales and Scotland over the next two weeks but is available for the final headline outing of the northern tour against England at Twickenham.

Should he feature against England as expected, Retallick will become the All Blacks’ 11th centurion. If Retallick starts that match alongside stand-in captain Sam Whitelock the All Blacks locking duo will break Springboks pairing Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha’s record 63-test partnership.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster, speaking after his squad completed training under grey skies on a sodden pitch at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens, accepted Retallick’s punishment.

“He’s got two weeks. They’ve deemed he was guilty of a red card threshold. We accept that,” Foster said. “It was a fair hearing. I sat through it with him at 6.30 this morning. He’s got a great record; he’s played 99 tests and never been red carded before. It was a tough experience for him but it is what it is.

“Our verdict is it was a pretty legitimate cleanout but he went too low and he hit the back of the neck so you have to accept that in the game. It was certainly good to hear they saw there was no intent to hurt, it was just technique he didn’t quite get right.

“As a coach you never see two weeks as good news but the nice thing for him is he’s available. He’s already telling me he’s going to pick himself for the English test so we’ll wait and see.”

Whitelock and Crusaders captain Scott Barrett are expected to start in the second-row against Wales this weekend, with Tupou Vaa’i potentially providing cover off the bench.

In a squad significantly depleted in experience following skipper Sam Cane and veteran hooker Dane Coles’ departures through injury, All Blacks midfielder David Havili welcomed the news Retallick will remain on tour.

“He’s a massive leader in our team. I’m bloody gutted he can’t be on the field the next couple of weeks but having him around the group is huge for us,” Havili said. “There’s a lot of young players in this group and with a few older boys going home it’s great to have him around. He’ll be working his butt off to get back in the jersey.”

Havili has twice collided heads with Cane this season. The first incident occurred in the Bledisloe Cup escape in Melbourne, with Cane and Havili both missing the following test due to concussion. Last week in Japan Cane suffered a broken cheekbone after again clashing heads with Havili, who has since suffered no ill effects of the latest knock.

“I think he took me out to be fair; I was already over the ball,” Havili said. “It was a pretty big collision on both sides. I was a wee bit slow over the first couple of days and missed that test in Auckland which was frustrating but that’s rugby, that stuff happens. It’s fresh now after five weeks without any symptoms.”