Gregor Paul: Carter victim in judiciary panto

Dan Carter's citing is the perfect way to show there is no fear in the administrative ranks. Photo / Getty Images

Now then, let's just take a minute to think about what is going on here with Dan Carter. He will fly to London for a hearing at 10pm tonight (NZT) with attack coach Steve Hansen and explain the tackle he made on Martin Roberts.

The man who will chair the hearing is Jeff Blackett, the Rugby Football Union's disciplinary officer. Blackett may well be the best in disciplinary business. He may be professional to his core and more experienced in these matters than anyone else on the planet. But he's also English. The All Blacks play England in 12 days. England, having lost seven of their last 12 tests, are desperate for a win. They really, really need to win.

So how is it going to look if an Englishman connected to the RFU decides that Carter has to cop a two-week suspension and can't take his place at Twickers?

It isn't going to look good at all. Some people in New Zealand might feel a raging sense of injustice. It might feel like there is a conspiracy at work.

Surely it would have made sense to have found an Irishman or a Scot or a Latvian, or a Hungarian, or a Mongolian to have chaired the hearing?

Even better still - would have been not having a hearing at all. The rules are perfectly clear - the citing officer can look for incidents that would have been worthy of a red card. Was Carter's tackle a red card offence? If referee Craig Joubert had seen it, would he have proffered the ultimate sanction?

Even a yellow card would have been a bit harsh. Remember that Schalk Burger was only given a yellow for his eye-gouging against the Lions.

So we are back to feeling that there is a conspiracy at work here. Carter is the biggest name in world rugby and Wales coach Warren Gatland has made it clear that he feels officials are intimidated by the All Blacks.

What a perfect opportunity then to show there is no fear in the administrative ranks. The biggest name from the biggest team is being put in the dock so as the IRB can show how brave they are; that no one is above the law.

Yet, when you review the tackle and think about it, maybe there is intimidation at work. Maybe the IRB have been scared by Wales. It's just nonsense that Carter is being pursued like this. He was guilty of a high shot no question. Was it malicious? Was there obvious intent on his part to damage Roberts? Or did he commit to an aggressive tackle where he felt he had to try to dislodge the ball and absolutely put the man down?

It was clumsy, but a citing offence...no chance? In a domestic season, there will be at least 50 worse tackles than that.

But as we saw with the Lions in 2005 and now with Wales, the Brits love a whinge. They love latching on to non-reasons for their defeats to prevent the cold, clinical analysis arriving at the dreaded conclusion of them being not good enough.

If they can blame opposition foul play, build the All Blacks as bullies; as thugs - then they can pop down the local boozer and talk about how the game would have been won had it not been for that vicious, wild tackle by Carter.

The decision to cite Carter merely justifies in Welsh minds that they have a legitimate claim they were eased out of contention by unjust forces beyond their control.

This whole process is a pantomime with Carter horribly miscast as the villain.