Doueihi vows to make amends to Cedars after send-off

Lebanon coach Michael Cheika is seeking audio he hopes will clear a “shocked” and “disappointed” Adam Doueihi for next weekend’s must-win clash with Ireland after the Wests Tigers star was sent off against New Zealand.

Doueihi was given his marching orders by referee Grant Atkins for dissent in the 59th minutes of Lebanon’s 34-12 loss to the Kiwis at Warrington and the Cedars playmaker admits frustration got the better of him.

However, Cheika is hoping Doueihi will be available to face Ireland at Newcastle’s Kingston Park in a clash that is expected to decide second place in Group C and a quarter-final berth against the Kangaroos.

“He was sent off for saying something to the referee, that’s pretty clear,” Cheika said. “But that’s an accumulation of frustration that comes off the back of a try where there’s no play-the-ball from Brandon Smith and continual blocks on the kick-offs.

“It should never happen, obviously. But you know, if those things are both handled right … we are obviously considered as the lower-tier team, there's a certain perception there and that’s how it rolls.

“We’ll just see what happens. There's no point worrying about exactly what happened, and it’s not really clear, because there are conflicting stories.

“There’ll be a method to find out what happened and from there we’ll be able to make a call on it. It’s a shame we can’t make that decision now because they’re unable to find that footage with the audio on it. I’m not sure why.”

It is understood that Doueihi claims he told Atkins, “Give us some f---ing calls”, and was stunned when the NRL whistleblower pointed to the sideline and sent him off.

Teammates said Doueihi had vowed to make amends for his send-off, which marred what was otherwise a brave and impressive performance by the Cedars against the team ranked No.1 in the IRL World Rankings.

“To be totally honest, I didn’t really see what happened or hear what happened because I was on the opposite side but he was kind of shocked when it happened and the call was made,” winger Josh Mansour said.

“Hopefully we can sort it out. He is definitely disappointed, but I know Adam really well and one thing I know is that he will definitely make up for what has happened.”

There was confusion at the time of the incident because Cedars assistant coach and former captain Robbie Farah had been on the field as a trainer and it initially appeared that he had been sent to the sideline by Atkins.

Until then, the Lebanese players believed they could spring a massive upset but with just 12 players that was never likely.

“There were a lot of nerves coming into this game because we were facing a good side – the are the world No.1 - but we will walk away from that game with a lot of positives, that’s for sure,” Mansour said.

“We took it to them, they were rattled at a few stages during that game and the boys fed off that.

“We had a lot of confidence, we were playing some good football, some expansive football and we will definitely play the same way against Ireland.

“We want to play an exciting brand of football and I thought we did that tonight considering the conditions and the way New Zealand faced up to us in defence. We have got a big game against Ireland next week.”