Rugby: Ref admits 'I got it wrong'

Referee Chris Pollock gives Fritz Lee of Counties Manukau the red card for a high tackle. Photo / Getty Images

The referee who sent Counties Manukau's Fritz Lee from the field admitted he erred in not awarding Northland a penalty try on the same play.

With Counties leading 33-24, Northland were out of the game but had the opportunity to press for a bonus point. The home side eventually won 40-24 after an Ahsee Tuala intercept.

With just seven points separating third-place Auckland (28 points) and Northland in ninth, every point assumes great importance in the race for a top-seven spot and a place in next year's premier division.

That's why Northland were disappointed that Chris Pollock did not take the extra step of giving the penalty try when Lee coathangered replacement halfback Luke Hamilton.

"I didn't feel like I could give it when he [Hamilton] still had 20 metres to go," Pollock said. "I couldn't see what was coming behind me from a cover defence point of view."

As it was, Lee was the sum total of the cover defence. When Hamilton stepped inside him he jumped, flung an arm out and caught the 27-year-old around the head. The force of the tackle and the momentum of Hamilton lifted him off his feet.

"After watching it on tape, it was clearly a penalty try," Pollock admitted. "There's no question about it."

Although head-high tackles when the cover defender is wrong-footed tend to look worse than they are, Lee got it horribly wrong and will almost certainly spend some time in detention.

"Fritz is not a dirty player," his coach Milton Haig said. "He'll be very sorry about that."

Lee contacted Hamilton yesterday to check he was okay and was pleased to learn there were no hard feelings on the Northlander's part.

Lee will face the judiciary in Wellington tomorrow afternoon and Counties have engaged lawyer Stephen Cottrell to help them state their case. It is believed Lee will point to his clean record at club and provincial level, his genuine remorse and a lack of intent to try to avoid a long spell on the sidelines.

Pollock, as fate would have it, will referee Northland's crucial match against Waikato in Whangarei. A bonus-point victory, while denying the visitors a point, would see Northland leapfrog the Mooloos on the table.