New Zealand No 8 Ardie Savea has apologised after he was accused of "threatening to kill" an opponent after making a controversial throat-slitting gesture in the Melbourne Storm v Hurricanes Super Rugby clash.
It was the Hurricanes who came away with a thrilling 39-33 win down under, but their win was overshadowed by an ugly melee which culminated in Savea's threat to home scrum half Ryan Louwrens. The 29-year-old had already been yellow carded for his role in the saga that followed a collapsed maul by the Hurricanes.
In the aftermath, Rebels second row Josh Canham and away hooker Dane Coles clashed, and were grappling on the floor as teammates rushed in. Savea, capped 68 times by the All Blacks, then escalated matters by throwing Melbourne outside half Carter Gordon to the ground.
After further words with Gordon, referee James Doleman consulted with assistant referees Paul Williams and Graham Cooper, before sending Savea to the sin-bin for 10 minutes. And as he left the field, Louwrens clapped him sarcastically.
That seemed to further infuriate the star, who then pointedly motioned his thumb across his neck. A microphone detected one Melbourne player saying: "He's threatening to f*****g kill him, he's threatening to kill him."
After the gesture was caught on camera, the New Zealand star issued an apology. "I can understand the fans are furious with the gesture that I made," he said post-match. "It's just a heat of the moment kind of thing, you know. It's footy, but I understand kids are watching us.
"We're in the heat of the moment and that's out of character for me, so I put my hand up first and apologise for that."
Pundit Justin Harrison, who player Super Rugby in Australia for both the Brumbies and the Waratahs, was scathing as he reviewed the incident: "Not only Ardie Savea. I don't think I've seen any player make that sort of action and gesture in amongst the game," he said.
"There's been some argy bargy and some grabbing of jerseys and some wrestling, but for me Ardie Savea comes in here grabs Carter Gordon from behind and throws him to the ground and rightfully returns Ard with a yellow card," he continued. "This sort of carry on (gesture), you know there are different ways to get a message across."
Rugby fans seemed adamant that the gesture should now be reviewed and dealt with: "He has to be red carded," wrote @Feljin_J. "Can the TMO can still upgrade with the new Super Rugby laws?"
"Ugly scenes here," said Planet Rugby writer Jared Wright. "Not a good look from Ardie Savea." @damien_oregan wrote: "Big fan of AS, but that should be upgraded to a red."
