Crusaders prop Joe Moody has been suspended for two matches.

Crusaders prop Joe Moody has been suspended for two games after pleading guilty for striking Kurtley Beale in their comeback win over the Waratahs on Saturday.

Moody, making his first appearance of the Super Rugby season, made contact with the opposition second-five in the 35th minute - just seconds before he scored the Crusaders' first try in the 31-29 thriller.

Foul play review committee chairman Nigel Hampton said the strike merited a mid-range entry point of four weeks due to the dangerous contact with the opposing player's head. However, taking into account Moody's "excellent" judicial record, good character and early guilty plea, the suspension was reduced to two weeks.

The suspension will see Moody miss matches against the Blues and Hurricanes but 29-year-old will return to face the Chiefs, making him available for All Blacks selection ahead of their test series against France one week later.

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Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson was frustrated the Moody incident - that he labelled as a key moment in the game - was not picked up on-field.

"I thought the Joe Moody incident with the elbow the referees missed, to my book, it's an elbow to the head, so I'm sure the powers to be will look at that," Gibson said.

Moody's try shifted the momentum towards the Crusaders and the home side used the swing of impetus to score two more tries right on halftime.

The contact felled Beale and opened up an opportunity for Richie Mo'unga, who leapt over the fallen Beale and handed a pass to Moody for the try.

If the try had been disallowed, the Crusaders could have easily been down 29-0 at the halftime break.

GETTY IMAGES Richie Mo'unga leaps over the felled Kurtley Beale as Joe Moody looms up in support.

Gibson's frustration was compounded by Waratahs players Nick Phipps and Taqele Naiyaravoro being sin-binned during the match.

"A couple of decisions proved really costly," Gibson said.

"The yellow cards... there's obviously a few things that didn't go our way tonight."

Gibson labelled Phipps' yellow card as understandable but said he would need to watch a replay before commenting on the Naiyaravoro decision.

But the Crusaders also felt they were on the wrong end of a couple of questionable calls in the first half.

"There was a couple of calls we thought maybe could have gone our way from the ref... and 29 nil," Crusaders coach Scott Robertson said.

Israel Folau, whose aerial skills played a crucial role in the Waratahs fourth try of the first half, looked certain to be in front of Bernard Foley when he made the cross-field kick.