NZ Kiwis prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has been dealt a one-game ban for his dangerous tackle in the Rugby League World Cup win over Ireland on Saturday (NZ time).
The veteran front-rower was sent to the sin bin for his 38th minute shot on Irish debutant Dan Norman during the 48-10 win in New Zealand's final group game.
The suspension rules Waerea-Hargreaves out of the NZ Kiwis' quarter-final clash with Fiji at Hull on Sunday.
The Sydney Roosters stalwart was playing his first game at the tournament, after serving a three-game suspension at the end of the NRL season.
After the match, Ireland coach Ged Corcoran slammed Waerea-Hargreaves for what he described as a "dog shot", implying he should have received a harsher punishment and urging World Cup officials to come down hard on the 32-test international.
"I've got to be careful with what I say, but really disappointed with that dog shot," Corcoran said. “For me, that’s a gamechanger.
"They had an off night for me... my boys turned up.
"It's a hard one to swallow. I need to look at that and review it, but it would have been a gamechanger for us."
With plenty of depth upfront to call upon, coach Michael Maguire isn't short on candidates to replace Waerea-Hargreaves for their date with the Bati at Hull.
Although heavily favoured for victory, the team will be eager to avoid the kind of complacency that saw Fiji bundle them out at the same stage of the 2017 tournament in an historic upset at Christchurch.
Join us at 8:30am Sunday for live updates of the Kiwis v Fiji Rugby League World Cup quarter-final clash
