Rugby: Ian Foster ready to do ‘talking in the judiciary’ after Brodie Retallick’s red card in All Blacks win over Japan

Brodie Retallick scored the All Blacks' first try in their win over Japan. Photo / AP

The All Blacks set off from Japan for their northern tour under a cloud of uncertainty.

After naming a mix-and-match side for their unconvincing 38-31 win over the Brave Blossoms in Tokyo, they may now face some time without enigmatic lock Brodie Retallick.

Playing in his 99th test, Retallick scored the opening try and did some good work at the set piece and breakdown, but got an attempted cleanout wrong after 66 minutes. Retallick went flying into the breakdown looking to move Japanese loose forward Kazuki Himeno off the ball, but contacted the back of the Japanese player’s head and neck with his shoulder.

While Himeno was unaffected by the shot – shrugging Retallick off before diving over the ruck to pressure Aaron Smith – the play was sent to the TMO to check, and Retallick was ultimately shown a red card with the referee deeming there were no mitigating factors in the moment of foul play.

Retallick became the eighth All Blacks player to be sent off, and the fifth in the last four years.

With just three weeks left of the All Blacks season, the incident could bring an early close to Retallick’s campaign, which had already been shortened due to injury.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster said he expects to find out what the judiciary ruling is in terms of a suspension on Tuesday night.

“It looked pretty innocuous from a number of angles, but we’ll do our talking in the judiciary. We want to go and present a pretty strong rugby case for it, but we’ll just have to see what unfolds.

“The fact the other player bounced straight up and came back into the game, it was almost like nothing happened. But it is a game; we’ve just got to make sure we’re good in that area.”

The All Blacks have already been forced to send captain Sam Cane (cheekbone fracture) and veteran Dane Coles (calf) home due to the injuries they sustained around the Japan test, and the team would have to put forward an extremely compelling argument for Retallick to not miss time through suspension.

A low-end sanction would potentially see Retallick be available for the team’s third and final test of the tour – against England at Twickenham on November 20 – while a mid-level sanction would be the end of his season.

Despite that, it is expected both Sam Whitelock and Scott Barrett will be available for selection alongside Tupou Vaa’i for next weekend’s test against Wales in Cardiff, with Patrick Tuipulotu being released back to the All Blacks XV for their match against Ireland A.