Ex-Irish ref boss warns ‘there’s too much to lose’ if Eben Etzebeth’s ‘egregious act’ is dealt with leniently
Springboks lock Eben Etzebeth and the scuffle which led to his red card against Wales.
Former Irish referee boss Owen Doyle has demanded that Eben Etzebeth receives a severe punishment for his eye gouge on Alex Mann.
The Springboks star was issued a permanent red card at the end of South Africa’s 73-0 victory after he pressed his thumb into the eye of the Wales flanker.
Etzebeth will now attend a disciplinary hearing which will determine how long he will spend on the sidelines, with the outcome likely to be known on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.
The sanctions that can be applied
Intentional or reckless contact with the eye can carry suspensions of up to four years but, if it is only deemed to be ‘contact with the eye area’, it can be as low as two weeks when mitigation is applied.
There were also suggestions that the 34-year-old may have been retaliating to an eye gouge on him from Mann, with a grainy screenshot of an earlier incident being spread on social media.
However, the Welsh back-rower has not been cited and Doyle has urged the judicial panel which presides over this case to throw the book at the Springbok.
“Eben Etzebeth. His thumb in the eye of Wales’ Alex Mann is, unsurprisingly, the talk of the town. Whichever way you look at it, it was an egregious act impossible to mitigate,” he wrote in his Irish Times column.
“There are now suggestions that Etzebeth himself was provoked, that he was the recipient of a prior gouge with some pretty inconclusive video footage doing the rounds.
“But it cannot be a question of an eye for an eye, that’s a level of retaliation which cannot be acceptable. We’d all be livid if someone poked their finger into our eye, but to actually return the act is unthinkable.
“If provocation can be proved, then both gouges should be dealt with separately. Rugby cannot afford its judiciary to tread lightly on this one, there’s too much to lose.”
Springboks’ third red card in November
Etzebeth’s moment of madness was the final red card in an incident-packed November Test series, which saw several significant officiating decisions.
A number of them involved the Springboks with fellow locks Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert also being dismissed in games against France and Italy respectively for high shots.
De Jager received a suspension while Mostert’s red card was rescinded after it was deemed that contact was made primarily with the chest area.
“Some great rugby this autumn has been badly tarnished by foul play, constant TMO interruptions and referees being the centre of attention,” Doyle added.
“Don’t shoot the messenger, but we cannot lay the blame for everything at the door of the match officials.
“They are assailed by decision-making protocols, check lists, constant questioning from players and very detailed analysis of their performance from team coaches. That is a lot of pressure.”
READ MORE: Why Eddie Jones believes Eben Etzebeth’s eye-gouge was ‘a minor incident’
