Former referee Owen Doyle says Eben Etzebeth’s eye-gouge leaves “no mitigation” while James Ryan’s reduced ban exposes major flaws in rugby’s disciplinary system.
Writing in The Irish Times, Doyle said the footage of the Bok lock pressing his thumb toward Wales flank Alex Mann’s eye left no room for interpretation.
“Whichever way you look at it, it was an egregious act impossible to mitigate.”
Doyle acknowledged suggestions that Etzebeth may have been provoked, but dismissed any notion of retaliation as justification.
“It cannot be a question of an eye for an eye, to actually return the act is unthinkable.”
WATCH: Was Eben eye-gouged first?
The 141-cap Springbok awaits a World Rugby disciplinary ruling and is expected to receive a lengthy ban, despite a spotless record before his dismissal in Cardiff.
With eye-contact offences carrying entry-point sanctions of 12 to 24 weeks, he could miss a significant portion of the Sharks’ season.
Doyle then shifted to Ireland lock James Ryan’s cleanout on Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx, saying the three-week suspension, reducible to two via World Rugby’s “coaching intervention programme”, was far too soft.
“That is frankly nonsense. If elite professional players don’t know how to tackle properly, the game has a bigger problem than we thought.”
MORE: Ireland lock gets slap on wrist for Marx cleanout
He argued that tackle school functions largely to fast-track player availability.
“There are those, count me among them, who consider tackling school to be a device to get the player back on the pitch ASAP.”
Doyle revealed that World Rugby once considered automatic suspensions alongside the 20-minute red card.
“It would have seen Ryan sidelined for four weeks, a significant deterrent, compared to a paltry two,” he said, before noting that the idea was ultimately discarded.
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
The post Ex-Irish ref: No eye for an eye for Eben appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.