Australia vs Wales result: Michael Cheika ‘embarrassed’ by high-tackle decisions and claims referees are ‘spooked’

Australian coach hits out at officials for the second week running following his side’s 29-25 defeat against Wales and says as a former rugby player he’s ‘embarrassed’ for the sport

Australia boss Michael Cheika said he was “embarrassed” by referee Romain Poite’s decision to penalise Samu Kerevi during their thrilling 29-25 defeat against Wales, and claimed that he no longer understands the rules of rugby union.

Kerevi found himself penalised following a TMO review when he ran into Welsh replacement fly-half Rhys Patchell, with Poite and television match official Ben Skeen deciding that the Australian had thrust his forearm into the throat of the Welshman – who had also appeared to have tackled the inside centre high.

“It was pretty funny because I thought I’d seen that tackle before,” raged Cheika after the match, having seen his own player Reece Hodge banned for three weeks for what he claimed was a similar challenge.

“It might have been Reece Hodge, I’m not sure, but our guy makes that tackle and they has the high-tackle framework in his head, and he gets suspended. This guy [Poite] doesn’t think about the high-tackle framework and we get penalised.

“As a former player, I’m embarrassed about that,” Cheika added. “I don’t know every directive, there’s a fair few of them that come out.

“I think Poite may have said he [Kerevi] lifted his arm into the chest. I don’t know if that’s legal or not. To be honest I don’t know the rules anymore, I honestly don’t.”

Cheika went a step further and hit out at the “administrators” within the game that are causing referees to be “overcautious” in all of their decision-making, and questioned how England centre Pier Francis was cleared of making a high-tackle when his own man was suspended for the rest of the pool stage.

“I don’t understand any more. They all seem spooked,” he said. “Everyone seems worried about stuff so much, I’m not sure why they’re worried. The players aren’t worried. But then it’s affecting everything else on the field as well like decisions on all types of crazy stuff.

“Then I heard that the English guy [Francis] got off at his suspension hearing, and I go ‘wow’.

“Maybe administrators are spooking the referees. Referees are worried about making the wrong decision. They’re becoming ultra-cautious about everything but it’s not inviting to the fans. Why should we be having booing out there at a game like that with those types of crowd. There shouldn’t be people booing. They’re not booing the players either. That shouldn’t be happening.

“Maybe the lights going out at the end was a bit of a symbol.”

Michael Cheika claimed he was 'embarrassed' for rugby by the decision to punish Samu Kerevi (Getty)

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth with Poite about the decision, arguing that Kerevi only hit Patchell because his tackling technique was so poor –which he later got a telling off for – but he said afterwards that not only are players unsure of how to tackle as Hodge admitted last week in his hearing, but that they are now questioning how to carry the ball into contact.

Hooper added: “I can’t remember word for word my discussion with him but I just don’t know how to carry into another player, as a player. I’m trying to make a dominant carry and he’s used poor tackling technique and fallen back. I just don’t know what Samu could’ve done there.”

Hooper faced his own TMO review when he hit starting fly-half Dan Biggar with a late tackle that saw Welsh fans baying for harsh punishment, with it remaining questionable if Hooper had made an attempt to wrap his arm at the point of contact. Poite elected to give a penalty-only to Wales, and Hooper admitted upon reflection it was probably fair.

Samu Kerevi was punished by referee Romain Poite for leading with the arm (AFP/Getty)

“I knew I hit him low, I knew I didn’t hit him in the head,” Hooper added. “It was tough to pull out, that’s the thing with slo-mo, it can make it look like anything, but I think that was probably fair in the end. I’d have been surprised if had went any further, jeez. I’d hope not, but you don’t know.”

Wales coach Warren Gatland took a different approach to his antipodean rival though and refused to criticised the referees who already have enough on their plate.

“There’s been a lot of criticism of the referees and I don’t want to get involved in being a part of that. They’ve got a tough job out there with thing they’ve got to follow,” the Wales head coach said. “It’s important that the judiciary take care of those things. That’s how the decisions are made and we’ve just got to abide by them.”