“Another Raiders player would have been allowed to play the ball after Jordan Rapana left the field as there is no doubt he caught the ball cleanly and only released it after he suffered the injury.”

Rapana will be unavailable for Canberra’s round 7 clash against St George Illawarra under the NRL’s mandatory 11-day stand down for category one concussions, while Brisbane’s Tom Flegler will miss their next game against the Titans on the same grounds.

Taupau will be free to play the Gold Coast and checked on Rapana’s welfare after full-time, having earlier told ABC radio he considered the official’s reasoning for citing the contact as ‘pretty ridiculous’.

“There definitely wasn’t any malice in that,” Taupau said.

“Obviously, in a contact sport you’re trying to do your very best to stay within the rules.

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“I feel pretty saddened obviously with the injury he’s gotten out of that, but … in that instance, what do I do?

“Obviously there’s every intention of me trying to make a legal tackle … it was an accident, but yeah, what do you do? That’s the question.

“Obviously your arms are higher than your knees. What would you expect me to do? Make a tackle upside down?

“Honestly, I’m baffled. I don’t know what to do.

“Do you want me to dive head first into the ground and try and tackle the ankles? More injuries will come from that.”

Penrith’s Mitch Kenny was charged with a careless high tackle on Manly’s Kelma Tuilagi, but can avoid missing any game time by paying a $3000 fine.

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