Refs miss fouls, All Blacks complain

Steve Hansen (right), seen here with Anton Oliver, says the All Blacks are taking the tough tactics as a mark of respect. Ross Land / Getty Images

SUN CITY - The All Blacks believe they have been the victims of increased foul play this season and have not received adequate protection from match officials and the judiciary.

They have been very measured in their public reaction, mindful that they have another test on Sunday in Rustenburg which will be refereed by Chris White.

The Englishman was in charge of the Eden Park test against the Wallabies when All Black skipper Richie McCaw was clobbered high by Phil Waugh and then spear tackled by Lote Tuqiri.

Neither incident was dealt with on the field and while Tuqiri was later suspended, Waugh was not cited.

White was a touchjudge for Irish referee Alan Lewis on Sunday in Pretoria when McCaw, Daniel Carter and Ali Williams were victims of some roughhouse tactics.

McCaw was dangerously taken out in the air when he tried to claim an early restart, Carter was hit high by a swinging shot from Victor Matfield and Williams was jabbed a number of times by Johan Muller before he unwisely responded.

However the All Black lock and Springbok skipper John Smit were both later cleared of foul play at separate Sanzar judicial hearings.

Both had been cited while Matfield, who concussed Byron Kelleher with a similar forearm jolt in Cape Town last year, was not asked to appear before the judiciary.

Assistant coach Steve Hansen thought the judicial results on Williams and Smit were fair but his comments about Matfield hinted at the disquiet within the All Black group.

They saw Matfield put his high shot on Carter early but did not ask the citing commissioner to investigate.

"We didn't need to ask them to look at it. I think the whole stadium could see it was worth looking at," Hansen said pointedly.

"It is disappointing people get hit in the head with swinging arms. Whether they are intentional or not is not for me to say because I don't know what is going through their minds, but clearly that is not something we want in the game."

Pushed further on whether teams were getting away with more shady tactics against the All Blacks, Hansen chose his words carefully.

"When you are on the top of the mountain I suppose everybody is going to come out and be really physical and emotive in their game because that is one of the ways of trying to stop you.

"Rather than look at it as a downer we have to take it as a mark of respect for the team."

Hansen thought White was a quality official who had tried to boost his fitness and match savvy by refereeing in New Zealand before he presided over the final Bledisloe Cup test. It was difficult for him coming from minimal work into test rugby but he would be much better prepared for Rustenburg this weekend.

The replacement tourists John Afoa and Marty Holah were due to link up with the All Blacks today at their luxury resort in Sun City, about 40 minutes' drive from Rustenburg.

Holah, who has not been required since playing the first test against Ireland in the No 6 jersey, fitted the team needs more than someone like Mose Tuiali'i, who covered No 8 and blindside.

"We just wanted someone to cover Richie [McCaw] really, a genuine seven," said Hansen.

The selectors tossed around a few alternatives like using Rodney So'oialo as backup but thought Holah would fit in very easily because he did not have too many lineout jumping roles to learn.

The replacements were needed as cover.