Wales boss Warren Gatland was left unimpressed after an incident involving New Zealand's Andrew Hore went unpunished on Saturday in Cardiff.
Hore was caught on camera delivering what appeared to be a swinging punch to the head of Bradley Davies, with the Wales lock then forced to leave the field. The incident was not punished at the time, but Hore appears certain to be cited.
"It does not look the best in the world, it looks like he has been caught from behind, I don't know whether it is a swinging arm or not," said Gatland.
"You do not associate the All Blacks as being a side that resort to cheap shots and I hope that is not the case and that maybe it was an accident.
"Bradley has gone down in a heap, we had to admit him to hospital, he doesn't quite know where he is at but fingers crossed he recovers.
"He was a big loss to us and it took us a bit of time to cope."
Overall Gatland was proud of his players for sticking with the All Blacks despite finishing far behind on the scoreboard, with the home side scoring two tries through Scott Williams and Alex Cuthbert.
"We could have thrown in the towel against the world champions but we didn't do that," added Gatland.
"I thought we grew into the game and took the game to them in the second half. I'm proud of the way we stole territory and possession in the second half but unfortunately we weren't able to do it in the first and the game got away from us.
"We wanted to take the game to the All Blacks. You've got to take some risks against them."
Comments
carpelone says...
jmanngod
You obviously got a knock too many on your head from your playing days.
From your posts, I thought you were fifteen.
When you play, you sometimes do things you soon regret.
Hore was wrong and he will take the right punishment on his chin. The sooner you realise it, the better.
Posted 22:25 26th November 2012
pog_mahone says...
Startled Wombat I'd have thought Craig Joubert's continuing love affair with the ABs tainted this win a lot more than Hore remaining on the field.
Posted 18:59 26th November 2012
pog_mahone says...
three6 you're a prat, at least McCaw had a word with the Welsh prop for an accidental ruck injury Hore just had a laugh with his mates while the replays were going on, probably along the lines of "Jeez I thought it was a seal pup guys"
Posted 18:57 26th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ jmanngod - a lot has changed in the game of rugby since you played. Mostly for the better. Why? To stop people getting seriously hurt.
So "in the good old days" when people might go to a fight and a game of rugby would occassionally break out, this might have been acceptable. Not now. And to yearn for those days just shows that you have an inability to move on too.
And can everyone just stop with the dragging-up of other incidents?! We all know the sanctions handed out are a farce and there's no consistency. So why are you expecting anything else?
He deserved a red card at the time. The sooner the experiment with the TMO is approved the better.
In the mean time I think he should get banned. How long for? Somewhere between 1 week and for the rest of eternity, depending on how much the panel has had to drink, I suppose.
Posted 12:03 26th November 2012
ProudSaffar says...
I think this tour showed how inconsistent citing decisions are in favor of the All Blacks. I week for Thompson and only when the powers that be cried foul in the IRB corridors was it extended to jokingly two weeks.
Andrew Hore should get at least 8 weeks because it was an off the ball incident.
@StunTheMullet remember this and guess who got only 1 week.
http://youtu.be/bDX-8w91pnU
Posted 05:59 26th November 2012
three6three6 says...
Hore can not wait to hit a ruck.... whilst heading too the ruck some big lump wearing a red shirt gets in his way.... Hore decides to let him know "that there will be no lazy running teoday" and gives him a nudge. Unfortunately, the wee nudge turns into a serious hit and yer man in red goes down for the count. Meanwhile, Hore does not miss a beat and hits his ruck.
This is a plausable explanation for what happened and I am sure that there was no malice in his action - but in the process Hore has stepped outside the rules governing rugby union. He now needs to accept his sanction.
Giving someone a nudge for being offside is as old as rugby itself and was a very common form of behaviour (at least up until the serious business of professional rugby started). Such behaviour is clearly still in favour with many who hold 'old school' values.
Posted 03:35 26th November 2012
colvin says...
Well I don't particularly want to defend Hore. The Welsh player was pretty near knocked out. But players get knocked out. I recall Carl Hayman a few years ago playing for the ABs. He was knocked as silly as a goose and went off. Hayman, built like superman, was knocked out.
Hore is a hard player but doesn't have a record of being dirty. Equally he is hardly a "coward". So what happened? Well the Welsh player was lurking offside getting in the way of the ABs attempt to drive a ruck. Hore was wanting to drive into the ruck but Davies was hovering offside in the way. Hore was looking down as he was driving forward and he swung his arm high at Davies. It appeared from the clip I saw that his arm hit the right side of Davies's head. It wasn't his fist. So the word punch doesn't apply, but I could be proven wrong as the clip wasn't that great. It seems he was wanting to throw Davies left, out of his path, and he was doing so aggressively with the intent of letting Davies know not to lurk offside. If the swing arm was lower say around Davies shoulder it probably would have been OK. (But not sure about the law on that)
In any event it was a shock that Davies was poleaxed. For that Hore will be suspended. But the independent judiciary will need to establish intent in order to establish for how long. Luckily it is independent.
But all this talk of O'Driscoll, Adam Thomson, Dan Carter's high tackle (what a joke that was) Richard Loe, Colin Meads, thugs, cowards is way over the top. Do we need to produce examples of incidents, foul or otherwise, that NH players have been involved in over the years. In Hore's case it would be much better to get the facts right. The brain needs to be engaged before the mouth. Ask Gosper.
Posted 02:36 26th November 2012
kiwi_n_US says...
Just a note for tre001 - a novel is a non-fictional account of something. It is not true. What is true is that you have the IQ of an inflated soccer ball.
Posted 01:54 26th November 2012
Billsticker says...
What on earth was Hore thinking? Doesn't he realise the NH has us under a microscope the whole time we're up there? Looks like a 4 week ban to me.
Can't be bothered reading, but I hope my countrymen aren't trying to defend this or say "what about so-&-so in 1998..."
Posted 20:18 25th November 2012
StunTheMullet says...
@ Jonthenotverygoodref and lawynd - "missed"? "coming in for a tackle and got it horribly wrong"
Here's a reminder - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT2LnhR6mhY
Never got 50 in ground replays unlike the supposed "high tackle" from Carter or cited because the citing officer was too busy in the hotel with Stephen Jones and the lady boy posse.
The IRB bleat on about consistency where there is none.
The only thing that is consistent is that when an incident involves an AB it is blown out of all proportion by the UK media and blind followers and when it involves a home nations player it is swept under the carpet as "clumsy", "missed" etc.
Seems denial is not just a river in Africa.
P.S. Yes, Hore has ended up going high (by accident or design) but he is coming to clear out the ruck and the Wales player has deliberately run across the back to obstruct quick ball.
Posted 20:04 25th November 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
This post is about Hores moment of stupidity @tre001- I wouldnt call cheating an art form mate! I think thats an EXCUSE disillusioned fans/scribes might call it when they "LOOSE" a lot. All teams must Cheat then! as NZ are usually the yardstick where rugby is concerned...obviously with most things "RUGBY" we are just better at it he he..
Posted 19:52 25th November 2012
Toulousain says...
@jmanngod. call me a loser if you like. i'm not defending rougerie. never did. and you're the one writing "deep down. I quite approve of both Hore and Thompson". enough said.
Posted 19:10 25th November 2012
Kiwikev says...
This was the height of stupidity by Hore who although a hard player is not known for being dirty...
I was shocked to see the replay and he deserves a lengthy ban! Horrible that he did it after AT was just cited. This is not AB rugby!
Posted 19:05 25th November 2012
porridge_time says...
It was a yellow card offence that should have been dealt with at the time. As has been mentioned on here before many incidents of this nature go unnoticed and at times unpunished.
This will be blown out of proportion in my opinion by a sour NH media.
Posted 18:39 25th November 2012
jmanngod says...
@Touloser - is not comparable with rougerie - he was attempting to blind a person. Hore was thumping a guy that was blocking the ruck and accidentally clipped him to high. Not even remotely the same as Rougerie. Stupid to suggest so.
Interesting how incidents involving the ABs and NH teams all seem to revolve around the opposition cheating around the ruck and being 'cleared out' I suggest those teams just stop cheating and there will be no more incidents... deep down. I quite approve of both Hore and Thompson. When I played rugby down in Otago in the late 1980s those kinds of actions were par for the course if you decided to stray onto the wrong side... and fair enough too.
Posted 18:18 25th November 2012
tre001 says...
Yes it was a thuggish act by NZ once again. But cheating goes much further within places like NZ (its an artform). I came across a novel called 'The Rugby Experiment' written by an American, that delves into how rugby is developed in the Pacific - its an extemely informative read.The way they get thier players to a professional level is mindblowing.
Posted 18:02 25th November 2012
jontheref says...
cuw3100
It is called dummy running, and if it prevents a player making a tackle, it is called obstruction, if the player is toofar away to tackle, it is ignored by the ref.
Introduced by the Australian many years ago, and finally allowed to exist by the iRB.
It should be stopped, as if nothing else, it caused the defender to hesitate, and by being "in an offside position, only liable to penalty", it has had the desired effect.
I know many will disagree with this, but I'd love to see it removed from the game.
I would also like to see rucks, and not the mess on the floor.
Also, whilst on my soap box, where in law does it say, the "assist tackle" has to release the tackled player?
Not in law.
Change the law by all means, but don't introduce drivel to give continuous possesssion to the attacking team!
Rant over.
Posted 17:15 25th November 2012
jontheref says...
stanthe mullet you have bleated on anout Andy Powell for the last three weeks.
It is three or four uears since the incident you have embedded in your brain happened.I doubt there is room for much else the way you bleat.
At lease Powell was coming in for a tackle, and got it horribly wrong.
It was seen and dealt with by the ref.
This was so cowardly and away from paly, it wasn't seen.
You don't seem to remember the carter foul that should have resulted in a pen try and yellow card though do you?
Read the comments from your fellow sensible supporters, and realise how far out of touch with reality you are.
Posted 17:03 25th November 2012
Andy1000 says...
A shocker and deserves a long ban. It's pretty much a carbon copy of what Martin Johnson did to Justin Marshall at twickenham and we (kiwis) were fuming he didn't get cited. No hiding place on this one, every other kiwi I know thinks he should never play in black again.
Posted 15:37 25th November 2012
SMV16 says...
Hore will get banned and he deserves to be. But lets not overdo it. From the comments I have read over the past week you'd think that the AB's have had 12 players cited and no one from any other team has been cited. Have a go at the AB's if you wish but bear in mind that every team has its darker/stupid moments. And for godsake can the NH commentators please stop dragging the O'Driscoll thing up...its 8 years ago. Might be a reflection on the AB's that you need to go that far back.
Posted 14:36 25th November 2012