MATT Toomua’s worrying head knock history could ground him for the rest of The Rugby Championship as the Wallabies wisely protect him from long-term after-effects.
The experienced centre will miss the Tests against South Africa and Argentina next month and could be spelled from the two return Tests in October.
The Wallabies are following World Rugby’s concussion protocols to the letter.
Toomua’s recent concussion against the All Blacks in Sydney was his fourth in The Rugby Championship in three seasons.
He was spelled from last weekend’s 29-9 lesson on precision from the All Blacks in Wellington and will undergo cognitive testing after his training return during time-off.
In 2014, the abrasive back was knocked out in back-to-back Tests against South Africa and Argentina and ordered to take more than a month off.
No Toomua for an indefinite period reinforces coach Michael Cheika’s backing of Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley as his midfield beyond the Test against the Springboks at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday week.
Wallabies management are awaiting a response from World Rugby after asking the governing body to find out whether All Blacks coaches held any meetings with referees before the Wellington Test.
It was less than candid of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen to trivialise a meeting with South Africa’s Jaco Peyper as only a meeting with an assistant referee rather than a referee.
Peyper was the only member of the three-man refereeing team in Wellington who spoke English as his first language.
He refereed the Wallabies-All Blacks Test in Sydney and met with Hansen and his scrum guru Mike Cron.
Any meeting of coaches from one team with referees demands the Wallabies be invited to join in.
Hansen’s lament that it was a “sad” Australian complaint is lame when he would have been furious if the boot was on the other foot.
Kiwi outcry that the Wallabies went overboard with the rough stuff in Wellington last weekend is laughable.
A shoulder charge, a jersey sling and some verbal and push-and-shove is hardly nuclear warfare when trying to rattle the opposition has been a tactic for more than a century.
The fact that it did not work is not the point, especially when Wallaby Kane Douglas’s face aggressively attacked the hand of All Blacks prop Owen Franks.
The best sign was the intent of the Wallabies to scrap and be more physical because they will need that with accuracy to beat the Boks.
The South Africans are stinging themselves after a 26-24 loss to Argentina in Salta last weekend which also cost them strong-running winger Ruan Combrinck with a fractured leg.
