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How Australia intend to defend Koroibete's 'terribly milked' red
By AAP
Marika Koroibete will front a World Rugby judicial committee on Monday night to fight the dangerous tackle charge that saw the Wallabies winger shown a controversial red card early in Australia's Test win over France.-
Koroibete was sent off after just five minutes of the Suncorp Stadium Test on Saturday night for an alleged high tackle on France captain Anthony Jelonch.
He will attend a hearing via video conference before an independent panel chaired by Helen Morgan (New Zealand) and supported by ex-players and now legal eagles Mike Mika and Chris Smith.
The Wallabies are set to fight the charge, desperate not to lose Koroibete, who was their best player in the opening two Tests, for any of the upcoming Bledisloe Cup series or Rugby Championship.
The Australians will argue that while contact was higher than normal, Jelonch dropped his height, while they believe contact wasn't direct with the head.
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie felt the French skipper over-reacted, which wasn't "in the spirit of the game".
"It was terribly milked," Rennie said.
"He feels he got some head contact and he has grabbed his face which is nowhere near the point of impact.
"What we'll try and defend is the first point of contact - Jelonch's head comes forward a little bit.
"When you've been hit in the head, your head automatically goes backwards. Clearly the first point of contact is not the head, it's the body."
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Latest Comments
A "glider". A great way to sum up Bruce Robertson. I used to love watching him play for the All Blacks as a kid in the 70's and in to the 80's. Also when he played for Counties against my team Canterbury here at Lancaster Park. It was one of the worse selections of all time when he was not picked in the initial All Black touring team that went to Australia in 1980. He got over there due to an injury to someone else. Like Canterbury great and second-five Warwick Taylor , they both knew how to make players outside of them life a lot easier. Crusader great Ryan Crotty the same.
Go to commentsI'm elated by this news. First of all, he doesn't play like his age. He can still hack it. Second, he'll probably be the back up as he is this season, while serving a leadership role and as a fantastic mentor to Will Porter, or anyone brought in at 9.
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