Why Australia star had his ban halved following knockout strike on Samoa star

Angus Crichton was at the heart of a major moment in the Rugby League World Cup Final.

The Australia backrower was sin binned for hitting Chanel Harris-Tavita in the head during the second half.

Many felt he should have been red carded for the incident but in the end he only received a yellow.

Samoa boss Matt Parish was not happy with the decision to only show him a yellow. He said: “Our hooker gets elbowed in the head and carted off and the referee makes a weak decision and puts him in the bin.

“Elbow to the head and he gets taken off the field, what do you think?”

When Australia boss Meninga was informed of these comments about the incident, he said: “Seriously? My view was that he should have stayed on the field. We handled it really well. It was our best 10 minutes of the game, our defence, we just kept turning up for each other.”

Crichton himself has apologised:

“I want to talk to you guys because I want to get this message across, and I want to let his family know that I am genuinely sorry. I want to let the Samoa community know that I had no malice at all,” Crichton said to NRL.com.

He was given a two-match ban for the incident but that was yesterday halved by a successful appeal.

Many may question why after all the forearm hit saw Harris-Tavita knocked out in his final game before taking a break away from the sport at just 23.

According to the Daily Telegraph, this was the reason why: “The tribunal came to the conclusion that the actions of the player were not reckless, but they were careless.

“Accordingly, the offence was regraded and the tribunal reached the conclusion that the most appropriate punishment is a one-match suspension rather than a two-match suspension as submitted by the match review panel.”