Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw has defended his decision to replace Cam Roigard in the first minute of extra-time in the defeat to the Chiefs.
The Chiefs ended the ‘Canes five-game winning streak last weekend when Jono Gibbes’ men overturned a 12-3 half-time deficit, to draw the encounter 17-all after 80 minutes and send the match into Super Point extra-time.
40 seconds into overtime, Laidlaw stunningly decided to throw replacement scrum-half Ere Enari into the mix and called Roigard’s number with the All Blacks star clearly miffed as he made his way to the sidelines.
The Chiefs went on to secure the victory with back-rower Wallace Sititi scoring a clutch try after pouncing on a loose ball after Warner Dearns charged down Damian McKenzie’s drop goal attempt with the Hurricanes falling to a 22-17 defeat.
All Black was ‘filthy’
“What a moment this is, taking off probably the game’s best player,” former fly-half Stephen Donald said on Sky Sports NZ’s commentary when Roigard was replaced.
All Blacks great Jeff Wilson was also on commentary at the game and speaking on the Breakdown show, he claimed that Roigard was ‘filthy’ with the decision.
The ex-winger added that Laidlaw made a mistake by taking the star scrum-half off the pitch during extra-time.
“This is right in front of me,” Wilson said. “I was commentating on the sideline, and I can tell you, he’s filthy. When you’ve played 80 minutes, and you’ve been influential in terms of doing your job, and he clearly looked fine to me, and just 30 seconds into extra time [he gets replaced].”
He added: “I think that was a mistake, that was an error. You’ve committed him to the 80 minutes. He can go the next 10 if he needs to. I thought he was good. There weren’t many opportunities for him, but once again, I come back to the fact that I think both of these two teams prepared really well.”
Replacing Cam Roigard was the right call
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, ‘Canes boss Laidlaw stood by his decision to replace Roigard at such a crucial stage of the match, citing the need to get fresh legs on the pitch.
“Fresh legs,” Laidlaw explained. “We just thought if there was a ball movement in the game, Ere is an outstanding defender, probably the best defensive 9 in the club, and we felt his fresh legs would help.”
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The 48-year-old added that he isn’t losing sleep over the substitution call and that following the review, the coaching staff were content that they made the correct decision despite the defeat.
“We reviewed all the substitutions yesterday morning and all the coaches were still in agreement, we probably made the right decision,” he explained.
“There’s definitely ‘Captain Hindsight’ there, Cam might have ran 50 or 60 metres and scored a try, but he also might not have. I’m not losing any sleep over that change.”
Fine margins didn’t fall the ‘Canes way
Laidlaw also pointed to the fine margins in the match that simply didn’t go the Hurricanes’ way, like Dearns’ charge down that fell fortuitously for the Chiefs.
“On other days, you charge down a kick and it goes to one of your guys,” he said.
“We had three charged downs during the game and none of them went into our hands.
“That’s the fine line but we definitely feel like we could be better around taking our opportunities.”