Ofa Tuungafasi has been lining up midfield runners all year and hitting them hard and legally. He is superb at bending his knees and launching into ball carriers' chests.
But in Brisbane, when impressive wing Tom Wright charged at him, Tuungafasi was a touch too high. Wright was also dropping after being clipped by Ardie Savea and so with the tackler fractionally too high and the ball carrier fractionally lower than anticipated, the inevitable happened.
Tuungafasi's shoulder crashed into Wright's chin and it was a red card. Were there mitigating circumstances..? Maybe...but referee Nic Berry didn't agree.
2 MO’UNGA’S SHORT KICK OFF
When the Blues travelled to Christchurch, it felt that not only was the Super Rugby Aotearoa title on the line, but that the clock had been wound back to the good old days when the AucklandCanterbury rivalry gripped the nation.
We had the hype of old leading into the game and it didn’t disappoint. An epic encounter played out – and the Blues were in control for the first 55 minutes. When Rieko Ioane barged over to make it 15-9 it felt like an upset was on the cards.
But Braydon Ennor charged the conversion attempt and then Richie Mo’unga sneaked a short kick off along the ground which he regathered and five phases later the Crusaders scored and were back in the lead.
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