New Zealand stormed to their 50th win at the Rugby World Cup, running in 11 tries to thrash Namibia 71-3 but lost Ethan de Groot to a late red card for a dangerous collision.
De Groot was given a yellow card for a high tackle on Adriaan Booysen inside the final 10 minutes with a ‘bunker’ review upgrading it to a red.
The All Blacks had recorded a bonus-point fourth try inside 25 minutes.
They led 38-3 at half-time as Damian McKenzie and Cam Roigard crossed twice.
English referee Luke Pearce had initially given prop De Groot a yellow card after his shoulder caught the head of replacement Booysen in a lazy tackle.
But with no mitigation, his call was soon upgraded.
“We will have a look at it – there was a lot of shoulder on shoulder in that contact,” New Zealand head coach Ian Foster told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“We will compare it to something that happened yesterday and see what comes from it.”
On Thursday, France’s Romain Taofifenua avoided a red card for a high tackle, raising more questions about inconsistent decisions from officials at the Rugby World Cup.
New Zealand were on a two-match losing streak, having lost 35-7 to South Africa in a warm-up Test and seen their 31-match perfect record in World Cup pool stages come to an end against France seven days ago.
They made nine changes for their fixture in Toulouse and, as the rain hammered down, started fast with Roigard crossing inside 90 seconds.
The half-back added his second five minutes with before McKenzie went under the posts in the 20th minute and Leicester Fainga’anuku rode two tackles to score his side’s fourth.
McKenzie continued to dictate play and deservedly crossed for a second time before Lienert-Brown added a sixth try just before the break.
“We tried to establish ourselves up front and we got that dominance pretty early, which was key to the game,” added Foster.
(BBC sport)
