Ireland rage at Boks after Heaslip cleared
IRISH chiefs have blasted South Africa after No8 Jamie Heaslip was cleared of eye-gouging in Saturday’s win over the Springboks.
South Africa accused Heaslip of gouging Heinrich Russow and asked independent citing commissioner Douglas Hunter to review footage of the clash at Croke Park.
But Hunter yesterday declared Heaslip had no case to answer, prompting the Irish Rugby Football Union to publicly criticise the Springboks for causing a slur on their players. World champions South Africa had also riled Ireland by voicing at least two more accusations, which they were unable to substantiate.
“The Six Nations has confirmed to the Irish Rugby Football Union that none of a number of referrals made by South Africa against Ireland players has been upheld by the independent citing commissioner that was present at the game between Ireland and South Africa in Croke Park on Saturday 28 November,” read a statement from the IRFU.
“The Ireland management is however very disappointed that the name of an Ireland player was subsequently associated with eye gouging in the media as a result of one of these unsubstantiated referrals. The Ireland management fully support and believe in the integrity of the citing process in place but believe that any referrals in this process should be made only when they are material and substantial.”
Fly-half Jonathan Sexton, who kicked all Ireland’s points against the Springboks, will miss Leinster’s Heineken Cup fixtures against the Scarlets after being diagnosed with two broken fingers.