All Blacks captain Scott Barrett felt that Damian McKenzie was the victim of a cheap shot from Ireland lock Joe McCarthy on Friday.
In the first half of New Zealand’s 23-13 victory at the Aviva Stadium, a scuffle broke out when the skipper went to grapple with his fellow second-row.
It seemingly came out of nowhere after a McKenzie knock-on led to an Ireland scrum, but replays showed McCarthy making contact with the fly-half just as the referee’s whistle went.
Barrett explained that he was angry with that hit from the Irish powerhouse and confronted the 23-year-old, leading to a flashpoint.
Making a point
“I don’t usually take exception but I saw something that was, I guess, below the line for me,” he told reporters.
“I guess you had to make a point of ‘you’re not targeting our 10 tonight’.”
Barrett insisted that was how he saw the incident at the time and, from his point of view, the All Blacks skipper felt that he had to protect his playmaker.
“I think I was getting up from a ruck and from where I saw it, it looked like Damian was on the ground and Joe cleaned him up,” he said.