Jeremy Guscott: Referee Poite got it wrong over Du Plessis sending off

The winners of New Zealand versus South Africa were going to be ranked as the No.1 team in the world. For the Kiwis that meant remaining at No.1 and for the Springboks in meant becoming No.1 for the first time since 2009. It was a winner takes all contest.
New technology, plus third umpires and TMOs, have become big talking points in sport and they came into play in this big match.
In the 15th minute Bismarck du Plessis tackled Dan Carter. The South African hooker steamed in just below Carter’s shoulder and dumped him into the Eden Park turf.
Carter immediately grabbed his right shoulder and then handbags went flying between the Kiwi and Springbok players. Roman Poite brought those proceedings to an end and asked the TMO to review the play looking in particular for foul play, he had already made his mind up about the tackle.
Under review the only offence I thought  Du Plessis could be pinged for was possibly off-side from the breakdown but that was unclear in the TV replay.
Poite called Du Plessis over, brought out the yellow card and said, “high tackle with no arms”.
He got it wrong and while Du Plessis was sitting out ten minutes Brodie Retallick scored to add to Kieran Read’s fifth minute touchdown against a single South African penalty to make it 14-3.
Six minutes after Du Plessis returned South Africa took a brave decision to kick to the corner instead of taking the three points on offer. It paid off as, from the lineout, the Boks did what they have been doing so well for years. The ball was caught eight metres from the Blacks try line and the Boks drove forward and crashed over. It was none other than Du Plessis who scored and he was man of the match going in at half-time despite being the villain in the yes of New Zealand supporters for putting Carter off.
The biggest moment in the game came two minutes into the second half. Du Plessis was again yellow carded for a raised elbow going into contact. In fairness to Poite it was a yellow card, maybe even red on its own, but because Bismarck had, unfairly, been handed the first yellow, he was off and effectively this monumental encounter was over.
Read scored a second try that gave New Zealand a 29-10 lead and although substitute Pat Lambie finished off a good cross kick from Morne Steyne in the 75th minute it was only a small consolation for the Boks.
The first 42 minutes of the match did live up to expectations. The first scrum showed us the Boks intentions as they pushed the Kiwis back at a serious rate of knots.
The Kiwis didn’t fold and retaliated by scoring a try after misdirection in the lineout. The Boks thought the ball was going to Retallick who was lifted high, but it went short to Messam who was stood at the front and he slipped it, NFL quarter-back style, to Owen Franks who burst through. He was brought down short and the Kiwis re-set for Read to crash over. This type of try is what the All Blacks are all about – they do things differently from the rest – and Reid looks just about the best player in the world right now.
Retallick’s try came from a break out of defence by Beauden Barrett, who played  well after replacing Carter. Barrett stepped inside Ruan Pienaar just inside his 22 and then handed off Jannie du Plessis and gassed away from South African flailing arms before he was hauled  down just outside the 22. As always the Blacks got quick ball. Conrad Smith took it on and poor old Jannie du Plessis was so tired he couldn’t even lift his arms to tackle and Smith rolled around him and put Retallick over under the posts.
I believe that had the South Africans kept 15 players on the field they may even have beaten the Blacks. They played well enough to trouble the world champions particularly when it came to set piece and aggression and power at the breakdown.
Aaron Cruden will not have the reserve fly-half slot all to himself. Beauden Barrett’s performance, in my book, makes him a real contender to push Carter.
It’s a real shame the contest was over after 42 minutes because we were being treated to one of the best games of the season – the subtlety of the All Blacks  against the route one Boks and with the scoreline 17-10 to the Kiwis we were in for a treat.
The Boks will believe they have a great chance of reversing this result in South Africa at Coca-Cola Park on Oct 5 and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.