The Wallabies are bracing themselves for the loss of Scott Higginbotham for at least part of next month's end-of-year tour after the loose forward was cited twice for hits on All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
Higginbotham kneed then headbutted McCaw in the 26th minute of the 18-18 draw at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night but was not sent off because referee Craig Joubert missed the incident.
He faces a teleconference hearing tonight but it was not clear yesterday whether the Wallabies intended appealing if Higginbotham copped a suspension. The citings process has proved a fickle business throughout the Super Rugby season and the Rugby Championship but two recent examples will be sending shivers through Wallabies' camp.
South African prop Dean Greyling was suspended for two weeks, but missed only one test, for striking McCaw with his forearm during the All Blacks' 21-11 win in Dunedin last month. A week earlier his teammate Eben Etzebeth had tried to headbutt Nathan Sharpe in the Perth test. He, too, was suspended for two weeks but missed just one test.
This most recent hit on McCaw has been met with howls of outrage across the Tasman. One newspaper in New Zealand called for an eight-week ban for Higginbotham to protect ''the best player in the game [from] being battered by hackers and lugs with barely half his ability''.
If the SANZAR judiciary takes a consistent line on Higginbotham's alleged strikes, which occurred moments apart and did not miss their mark, two weeks will be a starting point only. If the Rebels backrower is suspended and does not appeal, a two-week ban would still allow him to play in the first test against France on November 11.
But SANZAR came under intense fire for its decisions on Etzebeth and Greyling and there is a possibility the commission will want to send a message. Two consecutive two-week bans could take Higginbotham out of the test against England as well, leaving him free for selection in the final two tests, against Italy and Wales.
A further danger lies in the potential for the commissioner to find an aggravating factor in the headbutt coming so soon after the knee. It would be difficult to argue a lack of intent on the former with the latter arriving so swiftly in its wake. Nigel Hampton's comments in the Etzebeth case could prove instructive.
''This was a deliberate act done as a part of an episode of escalating 'tit-for-tat' pushing and shoving between the two players,'' Hampton, QC, said at the time. ''As to sanction, intentional striking with the head into the face of another is not to be countenanced under any circumstances.''
In any case, and with the tour still two weeks away, the Wallabies are likely to seek a swift resolution on the matter to minimise as far as is possible the impact on the tour.
McCaw was the target a month ago in Dunedin and no All Blacks supporter will forget the knee offered by Quade Cooper a year ago in Brisbane.
''[The confrontation with Higginbotham] annoyed me at the time but it will get dealt with I guess. It gets a bit frustrating at times. It's a bit annoying,'' McCaw said on Saturday night.
The breakaway's coach Steve Hansen called it a ''cheap shot'', adding: ''He [McCaw] seems to get them every week but everyone seems to miss them.
'You people [New Zealand media] see it week-in, week-out. If you don't think it's right, then write it, or say it on TV. We saw it, it was a cheap shot and we hope the judicial people can sort it out.''
FFX Australia
