Samoan coach Matt Parish has branded referee Ashley Klein’s choice to ship Kangaroos backrower Angus Crichton to the sin bin as “weak”.
The 26-year-old raised his elbow whereas bracing for a sort out from Samoa’s dummy-half Chanel Harris-Tavita within the forty sixth minute, who was knocked out by the contact.
The ugly blow noticed Fox League’s commentators tipping Crichton to be despatched off, however Klein as a substitute raised 10 fingers and gave the backrower his marching orders.
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“This could be the end of Crichton’s night Vossy,” the commentator mentioned.
“It’s a dead ball situation and the elbow is raised, it looks worse the more you slow it down, but for all intents and purposes there is head contact when the ball is dead,” Fox League’s Andrew Voss mentioned.
“This is a big moment.”
“I think Crichton might be lucky to stay on the field, whatever card this may be,” the commentator mentioned.
Parish’s facet went down 30-10 and had been valiant towards Mal Meninga’s Kangaroos, however the Samoan coach was clearly indignant they weren’t enjoying towards 12 gamers for nearly a full half.
“Five minutes into the second half our hooker gets elbowed in the head and gets carted off, then the referee makes a weak decision and puts him in the bin, dumbfounded,” Parish mentioned.
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“An elbow to the head and the hooker gets knocked out and taken out of the game.”
Australian coach Mal Meninga although disagreed, telling reporters: “My view is that he should have stayed on the field, that’s just silly”.
The Samoan squad was down to reveal bones after numerous accidents compelled gamers to sit down out of the match.
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Parish revealed he solely had a squad of 19 gamers to choose from coming into the World Cup closing.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tyrone May, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Josh Aloiai, Izack Tago and Fa’amanu Brown all sat out of the conflict, whereas Spencer Leniu performed however was doubtful within the days previous to the sport.
Hooker Danny Levi additionally returned dwelling as a result of private causes.
“Down to 19 players, that’s all we had in the squad, blokes playing out of position, blokes playing full halves and it was so courageous,” Parish mentioned.
Samoan skipper Junior Paulo went in to bat for Crichton, who he has performed with earlier than within the NSW Blues set-up beneath Brad Fittler.
“Knowing Angus Crichton and playing with him before, it’s probably not in his game so it is what it is,” Paulo mentioned.
Meanwhile, Harris-Tavita dropped a bombshell on the rugby league world earlier this 12 months by asserting he’d be taking an indefinite break from the sport following the World Cup.
The 23-year-old slotted into hooker after Samoa’s damage disaster and was determined for a dream option to exit the sport in the meanwhile.
Unfortunately he left the sector after struggling the ugly head knock and was unable to return.
“This is the bad luck that has cursed Samoa through the tournament,” Voss mentioned.
“Harris-Tavita, this could be his last moment in rugby league what we have just witnessed there.”
Speaking post-match Crichton additionally revealed he might be travelling with Harris-Tavitain the weeks following the World Cup.
“I didn’t know he was coming and there was no malice at all, sending out my blessings to his family,” Crichton mentioned.
“It is all love between me and Chanel, I spoke to him after the game and I apologised, whenever I play football I don’t try to injury anyone.
“I never want to see anyone get injured on a football field, we love rugby league because of the nature of the sport, we don’t go out there trying to hurt people.
“I just want everyone to know it was just a genuine reaction, I never go out on the field to try and hurt someone.
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“He’s a great player and I am actually meant to be travelling with him after this so there’s no bad blood between me and Chanel.
“He’s great friends with Nathan Cleary, who I am also great mates with… I am genuinely sorry for that, it was not my intention at all.”
Harris-Tavita revealed he got here to the choice to stroll away from the sport after getting injured throughout a heavy loss to the Storm in Round 7 of the 2022 season.
“For the past couple of years I just haven’t felt that love for the game, I’ve woken up on many training days and asked myself – is this really what I want to do,” Harris-Tavita mentioned.
“It was hard for me to make this decision because you can get a lot of money in this game and you have a short career, so that was one of the toughest parts.
“But after I’d ruptured my testicle, I spent a bit of time by myself contemplating my next move and (whether to) sign my next contract, and the decision I made was the best for me moving forward.”