New Zealander Keith Brown be the assistant referee for the All Blacks' contest with Australia after Cobus Wessels was stood down.
New Zealander to run the line in All Blacks' clash with Australia
New Zealander Keith Brown will fill in as an assistant referee for the All Blacks' upcoming Tri-Nations contest with Australia after South African Cobus Wessels was stood down.
Wessels was judged to have made an error when recommending that Drew Mitchell should be sin-binned for a tackle on Richie McCaw in the Wallabies' 49-28 loss to New Zealand last Saturday.
Mitchell would later be sent off for a second yellow card offence as Australia slumped to a resounding defeat after opening their campaign with a victory against South Africa.
"If anything, it's lucky to be a penalty," IRB referees chief Paddy O'Brien told the
New Zealand Press Association of Mitchell's tackle.
"McCaw offloads as he's about to collide with Drew Mitchell, who puts his hands out and pushes him away. So there's no way it's a yellow card offence.
Mistake
"As a result of that, with the second yellow, Australia went without a player for 30 minutes and that just shouldn't have happened."
O'Brien also said that Wessels, who will act as a video referee for Saturday's clash in Christchurch, had made a further mistake when deeming a line-out throw not straight.
He added: "Assistant referees, we encourage them to intervene in the game but they've got to get it right.
"There were two decisions made which we felt weren't up to the standard required. Cobus has been very understanding, he admits that he got it wrong and we're not going to hang him out to dry.
"He's got to go away and think about that... and hopefully learn a lesson from it."
The IRB stated that using a match official from the same country as the home team, as will be the case with Brown, will not set a precedent for future Tests.
"The appointment... is owing to the logistical and preparation pressures of selecting a neutral official for Saturday's match," a news release read.
