Springboks v All Blacks
Kick-off: 3am, Sunday 8 September NZT
DHL Stadium, Cape Town
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Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus revealed in Cape Town today he decided not to pursue a citing against Sam Cane due to a history of mutual respect.
Replays of a second-half incident in the tense test match suggested a tackle from Cane had led to a facial injury to Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, however Erasmus said since the former All Black captain apologised post-match, they did not take the matter further.
"Siya's injury was obviously when Sam hit him," Erasmus said.
"Sam came over and apologised. When you look at the action, yes, he could go a bit lower, but it was just a head-on-head. It wasn't the shoulder. Sometimes it goes for you and against you.
"To be honest with you, I don't think he did that tackle on purpose. A yellow card might have been appropriate, or a penalty. But I told him afterwards that we weren't going to cite him.
"You have 12 hours after a game to cite a player. If the citing commissioner picked it up and thought it met the red card threshold, then he would investigate, but they went through everything and it didn't come up."
Erasmus also revealed that he'd gone to the Pretoria hospital where Cane was recovering after suffering a serious neck injury in 2018, which led to months of rehabilitation in time for the following year's World Cup.
Ireland's Robbie Henshaw is injured in the tackle of Sam Cane of New Zealand Photo: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
"I will never forget when Sam broke his neck during a game against us at (Loftus Versfeld)," said Erasmus.
"I visited him on the Monday morning and the All Blacks had already flown back to New Zealand…I know how lonely it gets in a foreign country. You are alone, you don't know how the medical aid works or how good the doctors are. So we know each other a little bit closer than the other All Blacks. I had a coffee and chat with him. You could see he was going through a tough time. A neck injury can stop your whole career."
Erasmus, a former loose forward who played 35 tests for the Springboks, said he felt for Cane after he was red carded in last year's World Cup final loss to the Springboks in Paris.
"The poor guy was red carded in a World Cup final. It wouldn't have been nice to see him get a red card again."
The two sides meet again on Sunday morning NZT at DHL Stadium in Cape Town.