New South Wales coach boss Dwyer made no attempt to condone McRae's actions, but pointed out incidents of Lions indiscipline.

``Duncan has apologised, but he says that he retaliated to what he felt was a swinging arm,'' Dwyer said.

``Duncan lost his temper and has been sent off and he will go to the judiciary tomorrow morning. He has apologised, and will have to face the appropriate judgement.''

Dwyer claimed that the first punch of a bruising contest was thrown by Lions lock Grewcock and defended his team's discipline.

``We were the second-least penalised team in the Super 12 this season. We only had two yellow cards, one for a punch and one for a yellow card.

``The first punch today was thrown by Danny Grewcock after 30 seconds and the first penalised punch in the game was thrown by Phil Vickery.

``I thought that the four yellow cards issued in the second half were over the top. It was totally unnecessary and affected the structure of the game.''

New South Wales skipper Phil Waugh said: ``We went out there to play an expansive game of rugby. I don't think it was out of control _ as a player I was out there trying to do my best.''

The Lions were tonight sweating on the fitness of centre of Will Greenwood, who went off after suffering an ankle ligament injury.

Greenwood, a strong contender to make the Lions Test team against Australia in Brisbane next Saturday, was accompanied to hospital by team doctor James Robson.

Apart from O'Gara, Vickery and flanker Neil Back suffered bruised ribs, but they are not giving the Lions management cause for concern.

McRae will appear before a three-man disciplinary panel in Sydney tomorrow morning, with O'Gara also being called to explain the incident by the independent match commissioner.