Grosso surprised by referee’s lack of action after double skull fracture

France international Remy Grosso was surprised that New Zealand’s Sam Cane and Ofa Tu’ungafasi escaped punishment following their high tackles that fractured his skull.

The wing, who scored France’s only try in last weekend’s first Test at Eden Park, came off in the second half following a tackle by the pair in which Cane’s arm appeared to make contact with the head of Grosso, who was then hit in the face by Tu’ungafasi’s shoulder as he went to the ground.

The tackle was penalised, but both players avoided further punishment from referee Luke Pearce.

That followed the contentious decision to send Paul Gabrillagues to the sin bin after what was deemed to be a high tackle on Ryan Crotty. The All Blacks dominated in his absence and went on to win 52-11 after being behind at the break.

Grosso thinks Tu’ungafasi could have avoided making contact and that the referee might have made a different decision if he did not play for New Zealand.

“[Tu’ungafasi] sees me coming, he sees that I am down and he still makes the gesture to move his shoulder,” he said. 

“If the referee whistles foul, Cane must at least take a yellow, and their [prop] a red.

“If we do the same thing, we French get punished.”

Tu’ungafasi has since insisted he never intended to hurt Grosso. The second Test takes place on Saturday in Wellington.

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