Sonny Bill Williams issued warning for huge hit on Conrad Smith

Chiefs centre Sonny Bill Williams made his return to Super Rugby this weekend following a month off with a nagging back injury. He got right back into the swing of things, and made this massive crunching tackle on All Blacks teammate Conrad Smith in the first half. 

Following a solid shot from Liam Messam, Williams outdid him with a huge tackle on veteran Hurricanes midfielder Conrad Smith. The tough-as-nails All Black legend took the hit well, but asked referee Chris Pollock if it was worth looking at. Pollock said he was comfortable with it.

Williams has since been issued a warning by the citing commissioner however, for contravening Law 10.4 (e) for Dangerous tacking, which states the following:

10.4 (e) Dangerous tackling, A player must not tackle (or try to tackle) an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders. A tackle around the opponents neck or head is dangerous play.

A Citing Commissioner Warning may be issued by the SANZAR Citing Commissioner for foul play incidents that are very close to, but do not meet the red card threshold for citings.

Upon further review of the match footage the Citing Commissioner deemed a Citing Commissioner Warning was appropriate.

Do you think it was high and could have actually been penalised? Whatever the case, it was a massive hit, and Smith did very well to bounce back up from it.