I don't know what to say about this one, it's just astonishing how soft rugby has gotten. It blows my mind that Ardie Savea got a 1 week Suspension for making a gesture in rugby match. A game that was played by 30 men, where he made an aggresive gesture, which did not hurt anyone, resulted in him getting a 1 week suspension. What is happening to our sport?
I'm totally fine with Savea getting a yellow card for how escalated the scuffle that happened during the Hurricanes vs Rebels game, but that is where it should've stopped. For the citing commisioner to cite him after the game for his gesture, is ridicillous. Because now they're opening pandora's box. What is deemed unsportsmanlike then? Because we have the All Blacks Haka, which every rugby fan loves, where they do this exact same gesture sometimes at the end of the haka. And of course no fan or player has any problem with it, because it's rugby. But how can World Rugby explain this suspension, when they celebrate this exact gesture during the haka? You can't have it both ways. Either you're admitting what the All Blacks are doing with the Haka is "Unsportsmanlike Conduct" or you simply made the dumbest decision to suspend Savea for making a gesture in the heat of the moment.
I can understand I warning, but suspending a guy for this, is saying that it's red card worthy, which is absurd. Now that the citing commisioner has cited him for making this gesture, would this mean opposing teams can now cite the All Blacks players after games, for this gesture during the haka? Because this suspensions would suggest, it would legally be okay if teams started doing so, if they follow World Rugby's guidelines for suspending players for this.
