Wallabies flanker David Pocock wants clarity over how neck roll offenders will be punished after being targeted at the breakdown by the All Blacks.
David Pocock. Photo: Photosport
Owen Franks was penalised for the potentially dangerous act when clearing Pocock out of a ruck midway through Saturday's Bledisloe Cup Test in Auckland.
However, referee Wayne Barnes didn't issue a further sanction to the All Blacks prop, who was playing his 100th Test in New Zealand's 40-12 win.
It continued a painful night for the courageous Pocock, whose limpet-like attempts to turn over breakdown ball saw him routinely cleared out in vigorous fashion.
He needed treatment to his neck three times in the first half.
Most concerning was the Franks incident.
Pocock was to have scans in Canberra. It was a familiar postscript for the 30-year-old, who was the victim of multiple neck rolls during Super Rugby this year.
"You feel it after games and it's not something you probably want to think too much about," he said.
"It'll be sore but hopefully it's nothing serious.
"It's something the refs had said they were going to really sort of look at. There's been some penalties ..."
The Brumbies put in multiple citing requests this year following neck rolls on Pocock but none were deemed to meet the threshold that warranted a card or suspension.
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen admired Pocock's skill and bravery but conceded his chance of injury was heightened by the way he played.
"It's no wonder he's got a sore neck. He's got his head over the ball 90 per cent of the time and he's very very good at it," Hansen said.
"To move him out, he's going to take some contact. He understands that, that's why he won't be complaining about it."
Hansen said his players didn't set out to inflict neck rolls.
He said they usually manifested from bad luck when bodies collided in a fluid, dynamic game.
Perpetrators should be penalised but nothing more, Hansen said.
-AAP
