Ardie Savea is hoping to move on from his regrettable throat-slitting incident. Photo / Photosport
Ardie Savea is hoping to move on from his regrettable throat-slitting incident. Photo / Photosport
Hurricanes coach Jason Holland says it’s been a difficult week for Ardie Savea following his controversial gesture during last week’s victory over the Rebels.
The All Blacks No 8 was suspended for the Hurricanes’ clash against the Blues this weekend for what the Sanzaar judicial committee deemed to be “persistent offending” after he was first yellow carded for his role in an on-field melee, then performed a throat-slitting gesture towards an opponent.
Holland said both he and his captain, who apologised publicly and privately to teammates for the gesture immediately after the game, have accepted the suspension.
“I’m pretty aligned with Ards around that,” Holland told media on Wednesday. “He’s pretty adamant that it’s something he definitely shouldn’t have done in the moment.
“He has accepted that straightaway pretty much when he was sitting on the bench there on the sin bin for 10 minutes that it was something he shouldn’t have done.
“We just have to get on with accepting that and get on with what comes next.”
Ardie Savea makes a throat-slitting gesture towards a Melbourne Rebels player. Photo / Sky Sport NZ
Holland also revealed the toll the incident has taken on Savea, suggesting the public uproar from the general public has been difficult for him and his family.
“It’s tough, isn’t it? Because it doesn’t just affect Ardie, it affects the family and everyone that’s close to him,” Holland said.
“Obviously hasn’t been easy. Like you talk around the one-week sanction, there’s obviously a bit more than that that goes on that comes out of this around the general public and around his family and those sorts of things.
“But he’s got a good group around him, good group of people, great family and they’ve rallied around him. I think he’s probably pretty relieved now that he can make people really clear that he’s apologised and start to get on with his life and his footy.”
The Hurricanes will also be without prop Tevita Mafileo, who copped a three-game suspension after pleading guilty to a dangerous play charge against the Rebels.
Mafileo was initially shown a yellow by the referee, which was later upgraded to a red, after colliding with the head of Rebels No 8 Richard Hardwick during a ruck.
While Holland didn’t argue with Mafileo’s suspension, he called for more consistency from officials around head clashes, with another similar cleanout to the head from a Rebels player on Jordie Barrett going unpunished.
“I did notice it and obviously those incidents are totally different from the Ardie incident. But I’d be lying if I said we’re not striving to try and get more consistency, especially around the head knocks.
“We see a couple of incidents in that game. One of them where we see a really clear shoulder to head contact and it’s not picked up and I’m not sure whether it’s human error or what it is, but we need to find a way to be consistent because we’re looking after the safety of the players definitely.
“It’s a pretty heavy sanction isn’t it to get a red card and to get suspended for it. So if you miss them, then it becomes pretty unfair at times.”
Holland also added that Savea’s suspension won’t count as an All Blacks rest week, with the skipper keen to help the team out during the week to prepare for the Blues.
The Hurricanes did receive some good news this week, with All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara returning to some light training after he ruptured his Achilles at the end of last year.
