Rugby: Injured French player says All Black Ofa Tuungafasi could have avoided shoulder contact in damaging tackle

The French player who suffered a double skull fracture in last weekend's clash with the All Blacks has criticised the referee and accused Ofa Tuungafasi of consciously making a dangerous tackle on him.

Remy Grosso told French sports newspaper Midi Olympique that he was torn between risking a controversy and speaking out about the incident in which both Sam Cane and Tuungafasi made hard contact with the winger in a double tackle.

Some observers deemed Cane's tackle comparable to the one that had French player Paul Garillagues sin-binned for a tackle on Ryan Crotty a little earlier in the game. Neither he nor Tuungafasi, whose shoulder made contact with Gross's head, were cited although World Rugby this week issued Tuungafasi a belated warning.

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"If we do the same thing, we French get punished," Grosso told the Midi Olympique. He said he was unable to understand why both his tacklers had escaped all sanctions. "If the referee whistles foul, Cane must at least take a yellow, and their flank a red."

He said he hoped that the next time in a similar situation the referee would take a different approach.

Grosso added that he held no ill feelings against Tuungafasi – who apologised to him through social media after the game – but he believed the prop could have avoided his head.

"He sees me coming, he sees that I am down and he still makes the gesture to move his shoulder," said Grosso of the collision that injured him.