According to the laws there's no doubt at all that it was a yellow card and the ref was right.
Law 10.4 (i) Tackling the jumper in the air
A player must not tackle nor tap, push or pull the foot or feet of an opponent jumping for the ball in a line-out or in open play.
At a meeting in April 2015, the Laws Representation Group (LRG) of World Rugby (previously the International Rugby Board) considered the areas of the Game where, it had been agreed that Law amendments were not required but that current Law was to be enforced by match officials including:
Challenging players in the air - Law 10.4 (i)
The options given were:
Play on – Fair challenge with both players in a realistic
position to catch the ball. Even if the player(s) land(s) dangerously,
play on
Penalty only – Fair challenge with wrong timing - No pulling down
Yellow card – Not a fair challenge, there is no contest and the player is pulled down landing on his back or side
Red card – Not a fair challenge, there is no contest and the player lands on his head, neck or shoulder
Fekitoa pushed Havili's feet while this last was jumping in the air, Fekitoa was on the ground and has no options at all of catching the ball, hence there was no contest and Havili was "pulled down landing on his back or side". There's no pòssible discussion, it was a yellow card. The action can be seen in the next video from 1:34:00 on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOmzgQUSXRg
The landers fans have been since them blaming the ref for their loss. The ref was completely right sending Fekitoa to the bin. And he should have shown a yellow not only to fekitoa but also before to Liam Squire for a shoulder charge to the neck area in the first minute of the game. The shoulder charge can be seen in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It7dBbl8QSM
And he should have shown another yellow to Sopoaga for pushing Taufua's feet while this last was jumping in the air. The replays can be seen in the first video from 38:38.
Exactly the same action as Fekitoa. Exactly the same result, both Taufua and Havili had to leave the game injured. Both should have been yellow carded (and Squire) but only Fekitoa was.
Complains from fans are understandable, their team lost and is always more comforting to have someone to blame,... but what's completely out of place is what the TV commentators and some coaches say ignoring the laws. They are professionals and the minmun that should be required from them is to know the laws of the game.
It's completely beyond any logic that some professionals, including here ALL the TV commentators, most of the coaches and most of the players, don't even know the laws of their game. If they read the damn laws (which is not such a huge task) we could avoid all the BS they talk and many controversies.
Highlanders' coach about Fekitoa's yellow:
"Massive moment in the game," Brown said. "It probably won them the game in the end."
"Me, personally, it's play on. That's just footy. Everyone was going for the ball. Play on."
Firstly, he should learn to verbalise his thoughts,... "That's just footy"? yeah, we know, everything is footy but this doesn't explain anything at all,... "Everyone was going for the ball"? yeah, as always, so what?
Apart from this, Brown shows that he knows nothing about the laws and is talking crap.
but the saders' coach also said:
"I think we're still finding out exactly what yellow cards look like,"
nope, the refs are not finding out anything, they are just applying the existing law,.. as they did last year,... exactly the same,... and you should know it
As I said, is a shame that TV commentators and coaches don't know the laws
