‘Hotheaded’ Springboks forward slammed after dangerous clear-out

Jared Wright
Stormers forward Evan Roos and a screenshot of his yellow card incident.

Stormers forward Evan Roos and a screenshot of his yellow card incident.

Springboks forward Evan Roos has come under scrutiny after his yellow card in the United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against Glasgow Warriors on Friday evening.

The highly rated Stormers back-rower was sent to the sin bin in the 38th minute of the game by referee Chris Busby after he dumped Glasgow’s Matt Fagerson after a ruck.

The Stormers headed into the fixture after back-to-back victories to start the new season but would suffer their first defeat as Glasgow secured a 20-9 win.

Roos’ yellow card

At the time of Roos’ sending off, Glasgow led 15-6, and hooker Johnny Matthews would score shortly after the former’s yellow card, with Joseph Dweba joining Roos in the bin soon after.

Roos is seen clashing with Fagerson at the ruck, and while the ball has already moved away, the Stormers man continues to drive Fagerson, lift him off his feet and throw him to the ground.

His actions have been widely slammed on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, with many calling him out for his hot-headed actions.

“So so lucky it was just a yellow. Given how the colour of the card is decided by outcome, if the Ospreys player lands on his head, then it’s a red,” Overthehill prop wrote.

Tim O’Connor added: “That’s the worst form of YC from a coach’s point of view because it’s just *dumb*.”

Strong reaction

With Duane Vermeulen having played his last Test match for the Springboks in the Rugby World Cup final, Roos is viewed as one of the long-term candidates to fill the number eight jersey for South Africa.

In fact, he earned two caps off the bench in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup but did not make the final 33-man squad.

His yellow card against Glasgow and past indiscretion have several fans warning that he must change if he hopes to have a long Test career.

One fan bluntly added on X: “Someone needs to have a critical conversation with Evan Roos within the next 3 months, or he’s going to throw his international career away.”

“Thing is. Will Roos do something hotheaded and stupid like that again? Well that remains to be seen. But if only there was an example of a successful Springbok no.8 who was rash and struggled with discipline in his first few seasons,” AP Cronje wrote on X, referencing Jasper Wiese’s poor disciplinary record in past seasons.

He added: “Having said that – this really does now need to be a line in the sand. He is passionate but needs to control that emotion because opposition players will target him and try rile him up. How he responds is more important than what’s happened to date.”

Progressive Rugby also slammed Roos for his past behaviours.

“This isn’t ok from Roos. It’s daft, undisciplined, pointless and potentially highly dangerous. Needs to take a leaf out of Jasper Wiese’s book who was a liability, but changed his behaviours and remains an equally fearsome prospect on the pitch,” their post read.

READ MORE: South African teams dispatched in post-Rugby World Cup URC losses

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