{"id":66011,"date":"2021-05-01T12:58:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-01T12:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=66011"},"modified":"2021-05-01T17:57:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-01T17:57:40","slug":"cheika-blows-up-after-game-turning-red-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=66011","title":{"rendered":"Cheika blows up after game turning red card"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has labelled the decision to red card Toni Pulu as an overreaction that spoiled the contest in the Super Rugby AU qualifying final.<\/p>\n

Western Force winger Pulu was sent off late in the first half of the Brumbies' 21-9 win in Canberra on Saturday<\/a> to set up a grand final rematch against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane next weekend.<\/p>\n

With a one man advantage, the Brumbies scored through Tom Banks immediately after referee Nic Berry's decision to open up an important 12-3 lead that they were able to hold throughout a tense match.<\/p>\n

The only place rugby fans can watch every match is Stan Sport. Start your free sport trial now!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Berry had no hesitation in reaching for red after Pulu's shoulder left Brumbies centre Irae Simone dazed.<\/p>\n

"Shoulder direct to the head, there's no mitigation," Berry explained to Force captain Kyle Godwin.<\/p>\n

But speaking at halftime on Nine and Stan Sport, Cheika strongly disagreed.<\/p>\n

"I really think intent is an important thing in these decisions," Cheika said.<\/p>\n

"We've got an unbelievably exciting final… if he comes in with intent and a swinging arm, yeah, by all means, go and have an early shower brother.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Brumbies bolt into Super Rugby final<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why Aussie rugby stars' names have 'changed'<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie rugby star's epic 50 Cent hotel stalk<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"But I just don't think there's any fault or any intent there. He doesn't even know he's done anything.<\/p>\n

"A yellow card by all means but a red card is a very difficult one for me."<\/p>\n

Former Wallabies centre Morgan Turinui, however, said Berry was left with no other option under the World Rugby guidelines in protecting players.<\/p>\n

"We want players to lower their target – that's a red card in the modern day," Turinui said.<\/p>\n

"We need to draw a line in the sand."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While Cheika believed the Force briefly dropped their heads after that key moment, Australia's top two teams will clearly meet in the final.<\/p>\n

After a weekend off and with home advantage, the Reds will start favourites despite losing Wallabies centre Hunter Paisami to injury.<\/p>\n

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar is also sweating on the health of three Test forwards – Pete Samu, James Slipper and Folau Fainga'a – who failed to finish the game.<\/p>\n

McKellar said all three were in serious doubt for the final.<\/p>\n

\"Wright<\/p>\n

But Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa was just relieved to get there.<\/p>\n

"I think I'm most proud of the boys' effort," Alaalatoa said.<\/p>\n

"You could tell from the first half it was very physical and the Force did everything they could to not let us in.<\/p>\n

"But we came out in the second half and knew we had to be clinical and take the points when they were on offer.<\/p>\n

"There's a lot of learnings there and a lot to build from heading into next week."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has labelled the decision to red card Toni Pulu as an overreaction that spoiled the contest in the Super Rugby […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66011"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66013,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66011\/revisions\/66013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}