All Blacks greats Jeff Wilson and Mils Muliaina were left unimpressed by Cam Roigard’s decision to seemingly feign injury before setting up a try.
The New Zealand Test scrum-half was caught in the air early on during the Hurricanes’ Super Rugby Pacific semi-final against the Blues at the weekend.
Roigard appeared to be hurt following Beauden Barrett’s challenge but, with the Blues players expecting the physio to treat him, he got back to his feet and sprinted away from the visiting defence.
It would eventually result in Jordie Barrett touching down for the Hurricanes, leading to accusations of cheating.
‘Don’t want it in a final’
“I don’t think that was the right thing to carry on,” Muliaina said on The Breakdown.
“Yes, he was trying to speed it up and he was okay – I’m alright with that, even to the extent he’s stayed down for that.
“What we’re used to doing is going upstairs and that could have been a yellow card, but what I don’t like is something out of the ordinary just popping up and going, ‘let’s play on’, because a try came out of that.
“I don’t want something like that in a final to influence the result.”
The player has defended his actions but Wilson joined Muliaina in being uncomfortable with something like that being allowed.
While they did not outrightly condemn it, the optics of the situation certainly did not sit well with the All Blacks greats.
“I’m a little bit uneasy about the fact that the Blues players were coming to check on his health and wellbeing – they were coming forward to make sure he was okay. Fin Christie taps him on the shoulder and there was clearly nothing wrong with him,” Wilson said.
“He took advantage of the situation, that’s up to his conscience to decide whether or not he would do it again. He clearly thinks it’s fine, I’m not convinced.
“I think Beauden Barrett is fortunate the game was not stopped because he quite easily could have got a yellow card, and then it comes to the TMO and why he didn’t stop the game.”
Muliaina added: “Come on, I know it was early in the game, but are you going to do that in the final? If someone goes down like that and all of a sudden gets back up, is he going to have a go? I don’t think so.
“Let’s be consistent about it and that doesn’t sit right with me.”
An alternative view
Another former All Black, Stephen Donald, was also on the panel and he had a different verdict to Wilson and Muliaina.
Donald enjoyed Roigard’s ability to exploit the situation and almost put a different stamp on the feigning injury gamesmanship.
“I loved it. There are guys who lie down all the time that wait for the referee to go upstairs and hopefully get the opposition a yellow card,” he said.
“What’s highlighted here is Cam’s taking advantage of it and, look, he’s a clever footballer.”
READ MORE: All Blacks: Cam Roigard slammed for ‘disgusting’ football antics in Hurricanes’ semi-final victory