OPINION: New Zealand rugby is on the rogue edge. The fans have been superb about the All Blacks defeat in the semifinal of the Rugby World Cup, but some coaches and players appear to be seeking vengeance. They want their kilogram of flesh.

The first major sign of roguery was during the Hurricanes' defeat on the opening weekend of Super Rugby. They were well beaten by the Stormers and too many of the team reacted like petulant children. Some of the tackling was grotesque.

GALLO IMAGES Referee Jaco Peyper during the Super Rugby match between the Stormers and Hurricanes.

The worst hit was the 'tackle' of Ricky Riccitelli on Siya Kolisi. It was an act of cowardly thuggery. The Springboks captain had already long passed the ball when the Hurricanes hooker blindsided him with a shoulder into the knee. It was ridiculously late and has put the Springboks captain out of the game for around six weeks.

Riccitelli did not even look at Kolisi, an icon of the game, as he was helped off the pitch. And to rugby's shame, nothing has subsequently been done about it. We need sanctions for this sort of thing. Why should the victims, the Stormers and Kolisi, suffer, but the thugs escape unpunished.

You would have liked to think that the Hurricanes coaching staff would have publicly apologised after the game for this and many other cheap shots their players perpetrated. But we know what happens when New Zealand rugby is criticised. They jump into the sand pit and go into the denial mode of a small child.

GALLO IMAGES Jaco Coetzee is tackled by Scott Scrafton of the Hurricanes at Newlands Stadium.

The Stormers coaches were rightly angry about everything that went on. They spoke of it being "a mean-spirited game" and of their anger after they had reviewed all the cheap shots. They pointed out one of their players even had his hair pulled - twice.

The Hurricanes reacted predictably. Assistant coach Chris Gibbes said; "It's a pretty big glass house there to be honest. There are a few clips that we've looked at – TJ getting tackled off the ball, head shots and guys getting their head hit.

"So I don't know where he's coming from with that. He's entitled to his opinion, but it's a bit surprising, and a bit disappointing ...

BILLY STICKLAND/PHOTOSPORT Ireland's Robbie Henshaw about to be stretchered out of the 2016 test against the All Blacks.

"Billy's one we could have controlled (Proctor was shown a yellow card for an off the ball block), he didn't need to do that, but Vaea's one we have looked at a number of times and it doesn't look [like a yellow card]. It's Jaco's decision and we have to live with that."

That final, bewildering statement tells you all that you need to know about the Canes' astonishing levels of denial.

Fifita should have been shown a red card for a high tackle. World Rugby know that and continue to be disappointed by the leniency shown in the southern hemisphere.

It is the sort of tackle the authorities are desperate to eliminate from the game because of the long term implications to player health. It was a shoulder to the chin. But referee Jaco Peyper, as is his wont, fished about for an excuse.

The South African official decided there was sufficient mitigation for him to downgrade the sanction from red to yellow, because Fifita was bending at the knees.

Rugby's guidelines state that mitigation can occur if the "tackler makes a definite attempt to change height in an effort to avoid ball carrier's head"; and the main factor against mitigation is "If the tackler and BC (ball carrier) are in open space and/or the tackler has clear line of sight and time before contact."

PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES Ireland captain Rory Best remonstrates with referee Jaco Peyper during the test match against the All Blacks in Dublin, in 2016.

The first proviso certainly was not satisfied, but the second one was. Fifita had a clear line of sight from several metres out. It was also not much more than 30 minutes of Super Rugby since he last received a red card for a similar tackle on Daniel du Preez of the Sharks. Coach John Plumtree, now with the All Blacks, also went into denial about that one.

GALLO IMAGES Hurricane Billy Proctor on the attack against the Stormers. He was yellow-carded for a block.

No, the only mitigation was Peyper. He was the official who was infamously in charge of the game when New Zealand went rogue in Dublin. He does not like coming down on New Zealand sides because, it seems to me, he fears the impact on his career. This is common amongst referees.

After that Dublin game Matt Williams, a former coach, said of New Zealand teams; "They pressure the official….If New Zealanders come out and say 'you're not a good referee', that knocks your career out…The best in the game are intimidated by what New Zealand will say about them post-match. They have buried people's careers... It is a very big flaw in our game that they can get away with this.

"I don't think that they came out with an intent to have high tackles and to bash people...They lost control. That's why the officials are there. That's why we have these things - to protect players. New Zealand have been above the law for many years and I'm not surprised about 'what occurred (in Dublin)."

Those words from nearly four years ago now sound a current warning. At the weekend the new All Blacks coach Ian Foster said; "We've got to make sure we define what being physical means...Some games over the last two years where teams beat us, they've hit us in that area. We've said we're going to outskill you, but you've got to respect opponents have done a lot of work on us and if we don't get physical, then it's a long day in the office."

Of course rugby is a physical game, we know that. But there is a difference between gain line speed with a physical edge and bashing people up. Even in victory over the Jaguares at the weekend there were a couple of signs still of the Hurricanes wanting to bash people up. And it was the same two or three players over and over.

PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES Josh Van Der Flier takes on Malakai Fekitoa in Dublin, in 2016.

It will also have alarmed the fair-minded that when the TMO wanted to review what was a forward pass in the game-deciding try, the commentators also went into denial, claimed that there was nothing to see and that the TMO ("Where's that TMO from?" "Have a guess") was motivated by national bias. It was a disgrace. These were fans with microphones.

So I'm worried. There was some fabulous rugby over the first two weekends from New Zealand teams, but I am concerned that something ugly is bubbling in parts of the game. This country has some of the most fabulous players on the planet. But just because the All Blacks lost a World Cup game because they were out coached and out thought, New Zealand rugby does not need to react by lashing out.

The fans, who all tell me they had a fabulous time in Japan despite the result, have moved on. The players and coaches need to do the same.

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