All Blacks: Assistant coach Ian Foster denies suggestions of referee favouritism

Assistant coach Ian Foster has rejected suggestions the All Blacks receive favourable treatment from officials.

Former English referee Rob Debney feels there's a subconcious bias towards New Zealand when it comes to contentious decisions.

But the All Blacks are having none of it.

Sam Cane was penalized for the tackle which left France winger Remy Grosso with facial fractures, but unlike Paul Gabrillague's seemingly legal hit on Ryan Crotty, he escaped a yellow card.

That's caused a stir and led Debney to claim there's leniency towards New Zealand from officials.

He says it's because of "the accountability for taking a decision against them, the scrutiny it comes under compared with other teams, is incredible."

Ian Foster's not so sure.

"Weren't we one of the top yellow-carded teams in the world last year? I'm not sure how this "soft on us" comes into fruition," Foster told media.

The stats back him up.

The All Blacks were equal worst with Argentina for most cards in 2017 with a total of eight. That's at least double every Northern Hemisphere tier one nation.

"Our expectation is if we go high we are as susceptible to every punishment that everyone else gets."

World Rugby Vice President Agustin Pichot isn't happy there was no citing for Cane's hit.

"Should be cited. On my view," Pichot posted via Twitter

But Foster sees common sense in the referee and independent citing commissioner's decisions.

"Will they be tough on high tackles? Yes, yes they are. But they also have to apply a sense of wisdom to the game and look at the circumstance," said Foster.

"That's what they're paid to do, and largely do a good job of it."

While the stats favour his argument, it might take more than that to convince Northern critics.

Newshub.