“The head drops forward and there is contact with the head,” Adamson responded.
“It’s not the high tackle, it’s the player in a whiplash motion that creates the contact for us,” Carley concluded with his touch judges, moving on from the situation.
The English referee stayed consistent with these types of calls throughout the match. He gave a penalty for a high shot from Eben Etzebeth on Tupou Vaa’i before the 10th minute but did not show a card and the TMO did not intervene.
Fans were furious with the referee’s decision to not show Savea a yellow card late in the game.
“These were yellow cards evrry [sic] day for the last year and now all of a sudden its ok,” one online commenter said.
“Poor officiating!! Even Jordi [sic] Barrett knocking the ball out of Marx hand, few weird decisions but Boks let themselves down too,” another claimed.
“This should have been a penalty only as it started low and then moved up with head contact … ” another said.
At the time of the controversial call, New Zealand were up 26-16.
The Springboks instead found themselves reduced to 14 men when the TMO was asked by Carley to check an infringement at a ruck near the Springboks’ try line, which ended with Marco van Staden sent to the sin bin.
About a minute later, Cobus Reinach was given a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, seeing the hosts end the test with just 13 players on the field.
The All Blacks would go on to score another try to win the test 33-13 and give them a 1-0 lead in the series.
Their next test is at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on August 30 at 3.10am NZT, but the All Blacks play the Lions in Johannesburg in a midweek fixture on Wednesday before then.
Listen to Elliott Smith’s live commentary on Newstalk ZB Sport and iHeartRadio, or join the Alternative Commentary Collective on iHeartRadio and Radio Hauraki.