Ex-Ireland star: ‘Unless there’s very clear evidence, Tadhg Furlong should get the benefit of the doubt’
Tadhg Furlong during Leinster v Munster and the incident he has been cited for.
Former Ireland star Luke Fitzgerald believes Tadhg Furlong should be let off scot-free if there is no “clear” evidence of grabbing Gavin Coombes’ testicles.
The Leinster prop was accused of foul play by the Munster number eight during their United Rugby Championship clash last weekend.
Furlong has since been cited and is set to find out his fate soon with an independent disciplinary panel looking at the case.
Fitzgerald defended the tighthead, however, insisting that he is not the type of person to do such a heinous act and that, if anything, it was “careless” rather than malicious from the 33-year-old.
Furlong has an ‘immaculate record’
“It’s very disappointing. I don’t know Coombes but I hear he’s a very good character and a tough guy clearly,” Fitzgerald told The Left Wing podcast.
“I do know Tadhg a little bit, we played together for a couple of years, and he’s a really nice guy. Leinster have been very clear, he’s got an immaculate record.
“To me, it looks like a careless hand placement but I haven’t seen any of the afters. It kind of clips away when it moves away from the ruck so you can’t really see if he hangs on.
“It doesn’t feel there was a real nasty element to it, just maybe being a bit careless, and just knowing one personality involved in it, I find it very surprising.
“I doubt there was any real malice in it, so I’m very surprised about it. I hope it gets cleared up pretty quickly.”
Fitzgerald also doesn’t believe that Coombes is the type of person to make it up.
“You hear good things about Coombes from a distance; I don’t know the guy personally. Just from his style of play, he’s a hardy buck, I wouldn’t say he’s making a complaint without something happening,” he said.
“Potentially in this scenario, in my mind, both things can be true. He could have interfered but without having actually any intent to do something – a careless placement of the hand.
“If you look at the incident and where he is, speaking from my experience, I have seen people take that position. When you miss the clean and you’re kind of on the side, and you’re trying to life the leg out from underneath the guy and push him out of it.”
Precedent set with Jan-Hendrik Wessels case
Should Furlong be found guilty, he will miss at least part of the Nations Championship, but a precedent has been set with the Jan-Hendrik Wessels case.
It is almost a year to the day that Wessels was banned for nine weeks despite there being no clear video evidence of the incident.
The Springboks front-rower was punished “on the balance of probabilities” and subsequently missed South Africa’s November games.
However, Fitzgerald insists that Furlong should be let off if the footage cannot clearly show the prop grabbing Coombes’ private parts.
“It’s a disaster for Irish rugby and I hope that just because there’s been an incident before they don’t just throw the book at him and say: ‘We have to do it’,” he added.
“Unless there’s very clear evidence, he would be a guy I would probably be giving the benefit of the doubt to, to be honest with you.
“I hope it gets clarified sooner rather than later because it’s a disaster for the Irish team.”
