1News' Kimberlee Downs says a yellow card for Darcy Swain for after he went for Quinn Tupaea’s leg was arguably more dubious.
For several minutes after the final whistle the Wallabies stood, sat or crouched, looking shell shocked.
"Robbed" one Australian fan told me.
"A refereeing disgrace" another one said.
Wallabies signs thrown by disgruntled fans littered the sidelines of Marvel Stadium.
It's unsurprising emotions were running high.
The Wallabies had looked like pulling off a massive upset in the final minute, up 37-34 after a dramatic second half comeback, and having a penalty after the All Blacks decided to go for a try, rather than kick to draw level off a penalty of their own.
Bernard Foley has been left "bewildered" by a referee call at the death that effectively cost the Wallabies the Bledisloe Cup, Dave Rennie said. (Source: 1News)
Then Bernard Foley, who'd had an impressive game for the first 78 minutes of his return to the gold jersey after three years, held the ball too long for referee Mathieu Raynal’s liking.
He pulled Foley up for time wasting, an Australian penalty became an All Blacks scrum, the Kiwis subsequently scored - job done, game won, Bledisloe back in the New Zealand Rugby trophy cabinet.
But behind the scenes, a new battle was only just starting to brew.
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie expressing a high level of bewilderment about the call - saying he’s never seen anything like it, the state of the game wasn’t taken into account, that Foley thought time was off.
READ MORE: Foley 'bewildered' by referee's call late in Bledisloe test
All Blacks coach Ian Foster unsurprisingly had different views.
He thought it was clear cut - that the ref was offering clear instructions. Footage showing various players screaming at Foley to get on with kicking the ball does lend extra weight to his view.
Hey, where’s the fun of a rivalry if we all just agree?
For what it’s worth, while that ultimately determined the outcome and will inevitably be the big talking point in the days to come, I think there were other decisions made by Raynal that were more dubious.
In particular the yellow card for Darcy Swain after he went for Quinn Tupaea’s leg (Rennie "it was unintentional", Foster "we’ve got a big issue with it").
As of July this year, the World Rugby rules state "A player may lever the tackler out of the contest at the ruck but must not drop their weight onto them or target the lower limbs."
The lower limbs looked pretty clearly targeted to me, and as a result the very thing that rule is in place to stop - injury - has occurred, with early indications that Tupaea is in for a long spell on the sidelines with a busted ACL - possibly nine months.
That is a crushing blow for any player, and will hurt even more going into a World Cup year. The person who inflicted it by breaking the laws of the game deserves more than a yellow.
Oh, and by the way, the win marks 20 straight years of New Zealand winning the Bledisloe, and the All Blacks’ first back to back wins of the year.
Yeah, in all the drama, I almost forgot that too.
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