CROSSING THE LINE

At first, it sounded like an outrageous, unfounded allegation. It felt like the instinctive and poorly considered reaction of a disappointed and frustrated coach who had seen his team once again come agonisingly close to beating the All Blacks.

But on review, Warren Gatland wasn't necessarily making an outlandish claim in 2009 when he said referees are in awe of the All Blacks, intimidated by them and fearful of being seen to be complicit in a test match against them.

Gatland was coach of Wales at the time when he said this. And he said it after he saw his team lose at the Millennium Stadium 19-12 to the All Blacks in November of that year.

What prompted him was an incident in the last 10 minutes where he felt Wales were denied justice. The All Blacks led 19-9 when the home side made a stunning break. Reserve halfback Martin Roberts took a pass from wing Shane Williams and at the same instant he gathered the ball, Dan Carter made a thumping tackle.

But Carter's initial contact was high, around Roberts' chin. By today's standards it was probably a red card, but even back then, when tolerance for such things was infinitely higher, it still looked like a strong candidate for a yellow card. It was most definitely a penalty.

It wasn't malicious or intentional, it was just a touch clumsy given