New footage has emerged that shows Cian Healy’s ‘king-hit’ that left Wallabies scrum-half Will Genia with a broken arm during Ireland’s 26-21 second Test victory in Melbourne on Saturday.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was seething after the incident in the 25th-minute that ruled the Melbourne Rebels scrumhalf out of the third and deciding Test in Sydney this weekend.
Genia will undergo surgery on the injury on Sunday but should be fit for the Rugby Championship, while Healy himself is also in doubt for this weekend after sustaining a shoulder injury early in the second-half.
“We ran the play down the front and Willy’s (Genia) the decoy around the back and he got king hit from the side,” said Cheika, “looked like a shoulder – and when you’re not expecting it that’s what happens.”
“So Hoops (Michael Hooper) went down the front, Willy ran around the back – I’m not sure who it was from the other team that came in and hit him – and he jammed his arm and broke it.”
Despite Cheika’s strong comments the game’s citing commissioner Mike O’Leary decided not to cite Healy.
Now footage has emerged of the incident in question, which shows that contact between Healy and the Wallabies scrum-half does occur. (see below)
Judge for yourself whether any further action should have been taken.
The camera angle showing the Cian Healy on Will Genia incident which has the Aussies upset.
— Andy McGeady (@andymcgeady) June 17, 2018
V unfortunate for Genia, obviously.
It’s a blind side bump, but this is not a citing, folks. pic.twitter.com/JlASgzEFWT
NSW No9 Nick Phipps is expected to start this Saturday in place of Genia.
Ireland bounced back from their opening defeat to level the series at AAMI Park and travel to Sydney for next Saturday’s decider with momentum behind them.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt was upbeat about the prospects of Andrew Conway (hip), Dan Leavy (sternum) and Healy’s capacity to recover in time for the final Test.
Although a series win is the primary goal, Schmidt is intent on continuing his rotation policy with next year’s World Cup in mind.
“We definitely want to win the series, but we’ve probably got 10 games now between this tour and when we go into our warm-up to the World Cup,” said Schmidt.
“The thing that we want to believe about our squad is that there’s less and less between players, and so selection is a contest every time.”
