All Blacks coach Ian Foster is preparing to defend lock Brodie Retallick at World Rugby's judiciary, after his red card in Saturday's 38-31 victory over Japan.
Retallick was shown his marching orders in the second half of the All Blacks' northern tour opening win, after a dangerous clean out on Japan loose forward Kazuki Himeno.
The 31-year-old will front the judiciary on Tuesday, and could see his end of year tour over if a ban of three or more weeks is handed out.
Losing Retallick to suspension would be another blow for the All Blacks, who've already lost the pair of Dance Coles (calf) and captain Sam Cane (cheekbone) to injury for the remainder of the tour.
Speaking after the victory over Japan though, coach Foster outlined his confidence in seeing Retallick cleared, with the severity of the punishment on Saturday perhaps overzealous when all factors are considered.
"Confident or not confident, we're going to go into the process," Foster said.
"It looked pretty innocuous from a number of angles. We'll do our talking in the judiciary.
"We want to go and present a strong rugby case for it, but we'll have to see what unfolds."
Foster also pinpoints the fact Himeno was able to continue playing unaffected as reason to potentially clear Retallick.
"The fact the opponent bounced straight back up and came into the game was like nothing had happened," he continued.
"It is the game, we've just got to make sure we're good in that area.
"We'll see what unfolds."
World Rugby's independent disciplinary committee will consist of former England international Leon Lloyd, ex-referee Donal Courtney, and disciplinary officer Wang Shao-Ing.
Should Retallick be suspended, the All Blacks would likely field a second row of Sam Whitelock - in line to captain the side in place of the injured Cane - and Scott Barrett.
Join Newshub at 4:15am Sunday for live updates of the All Blacks v Wales
