New Zealand’s Richie McCaw red-faced over ‘dumb’ yellow card against Argentina
All Blacks skipper says getting sin-binned jeopardised team who laboured to victory over Pumas
All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw pleaded guilty to a "dumb" moment that saw him sin-binned as the world champions struggled to beat Argentina in their World Cup opener.
McCaw, the most-capped player in test rugby, got a yellow card for tripping Argentina's Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe half an hour into the game.
The Pumas took advantage of McCaw's 10 minutes of exile, as well as the later sin-binning of Conrad Smith, to stamp their authority on the pool C game.
Rich and Conrad know they were dumb ones and sometimes in the heat of the moment you have a wee brain explosion
"It was dumb," McCaw said of the incident. "It was a reflex thing. It wasn't the right thing to do and we suffered because of it and put the team under pressure, which you can't afford to do," the much respected 34-year-old captain said afterwards.
The sentiment was shared by New Zealand coach Steve Hansen who said: "The two yellow cards were pretty dumb.
"Rich and Conrad know they were dumb ones and sometimes in the heat of the moment you have a wee brain explosion."
Hansen backed referee Wayne Barnes in showing the yellow cards.