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Haven't heard anything, I assume he is in the clear?
Anyone else read of an action taken?
QC on standby, Drew on tenterhooks
Rupert Guinness in Cardiff | September 17, 2007
DREW Mitchell admits it is a nervous wait. The Wallabies winger is talking about the 48 hours following a yellow carding - his experience in the 66th minute of Australia's victory over Wales for a dangerous tackle on opposition hooker Matthew Rees.
Under World Cup rules, 48 hours is the window in which a player can be cited. In Mitchell's case, it is open up until Monday afternoon (tonight, Sydney time). Before leaving Millennium Stadium, Mitchell confessed he was anxious he would be summoned before the Rugby World Cup tribunal in Paris for his up-ending of the 108-kilogram Welshman, despite conceding 23kg to the rake.
"It is [anxious]," he told the Herald. "But nothing is in my hands. I am trying not to worry about it. At the end of the day, I have no control over it. If [the matter goes before a disciplinary hearing] we will put a case together. If not, we will move on."
The Wallabies management is ready to defend Mitchell if he is cited. The Wallabies have a Queen's counsel on standby in London for any such cases - to be heard in Paris - during the World Cup.
Mitchell said there was no malicious intent or thought of committing an illegal tackle when he saw Rees charging at him with ball in hand. He explained he was just trying to take advantage of the two centimetres he gives to the 182cm Rees to bring him down.
"I saw him running at me," he said. "I knew from previous footage that he likes to get low and try and bump me off. I just tried to get underneath him and unfortunately I got under him too well and found myself in a position I wasn't too familiar with."
As if time in the sin bin alone is not hard enough for any player keen to get back on, this sentence was made worse when second-rower Nathan Sharpe joined Mitchell after being yellow carded at the 75th minute.
The overlap of their spells on the sidelines left Australia with only 13 players on the field. During that brief period Wales winger Shane Williams scored the second of Wales's tries two tries to bring the score, after the conversion, to 32-20.
"You always feel bad about getting sin-binned," Mitchell said. "You feel bad for the team. You [have] let the team down in some respect.
"I wanted to get back out there. It was unfortunate I only had five minutes because I wanted to try and do something to make up for it.'
However, Mitchell did manage to leave a positive mark on the Wallabies' game earlier. He showed his magic with his role in Chris Latham's try on the 40th minute, the first of the fullback's double.
The ball first went from the hands of winger Lote Tuqiri and then to inside-centre Matt Giteau, who shot a long pass to Mitchell on the wing. He then passed inside to Latham.
"Their cover defence came across, and I did a little bit of footwork to get on his outside," he said. "But I saw I wasn't a chance of getting it [a try] … so I looked to get it back inside."