Parish: The sin-binning was a weak decision

BY JOHN DAVIDSON

Samoa coach Matt Parish has branded the decision not to send Angus Crichton off for an elbow in the World Cup final as “weak”, admitting he was dumb-founded by the call.

Crichton was sent to the sin-bin in the 46th minute for an elbow to the head of Chanel Harris-Tevita.

Parish believes the referee got the decision wrong, and the Kangaroos forward should have been sent off.

“Five minutes into the second half and our hooker gets elbowed in the head,” he said.

“The referee makes a weak decision and puts him in the bin. I’m dumb-founded.

“The hooker gets elbowed in the head and he gets sent to the sin bin…

“We needed a lot of things to go our way today. We were down to 19 players in the squad, blokes out of position. 

“It was just so courageous and they’re a great team.”

Australia finished 30-10 victors at Old Trafford.

“The result’s disappointing but not the effort or commitment of these guys. I couldn’t be prouder or happier of the group,” Parish said.

“We probably never got close enough to put enough pressure on them.”

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