Rugby-All Black Luatua apologises for high hit on Nanai-Williams

MELBOURNE, March 4 (Reuters) - All Blacks loose forward Steve Luatua has apologised to Tim Nanai-Williams for a high tackle that earned him a red card and condemned the undermanned Auckland Blues to a heavy defeat away to the Waikato Chiefs in their Super Rugby match on Friday.

With the game in the balance, Luatua was sent off at the stroke of half-time and the 14-man Blues slumped to a 41-26 loss in Hamilton.

The hulking 25-year-old is likely to miss plenty more rugby if found guilty by the competition's 'Foul Play Review Committee', who are set to review the incident on Sunday.

World Rugby included stiffer penalties for foul play in a new directive issued in January, recommending a minimum six-week ban for head-high tackles.

Players can have the bans reduced with early guilty pleas and if they have clean records, however.

"My bad my uce," Luatua Tweeted to the Chiefs winger, using the Samoan word for 'brother'.

There were no hard feelings from Samoa international Nanai-Williams, who played out the game and jokingly Tweeted back that the "clothesline" tackle was "seki", or Samoan for 'cool'.

But Luatua, who confirmed his departure from the Blues at the end of the season to join English Premiership strugglers Bristol for the 2017/18, was criticised heavily on social media.

Blues coach Tana Umaga also took a dim view.

"We don't want to be doing that kind of stuff. This is the outcome that happens," Umaga told local media in New Zealand.

"It makes it tough to be playing with 14 against any side, and the Chiefs in that kind of form even more so.

"All we want is 15 people on the field doing the best for the team. We can't question Steven's want to do well for this team, it's just a technical thing he needs to work on."

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)