France flanker Oscar Jegou has been cited and faces a disciplinary hearing after an alleged gouging incident during his side’s Six Nations defeat to Scotland.
Television footage on the BBC appeared to show Jegou making contact near the eye of replacement Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman in a maul in the second half just before Darcy Graham’s second try.
Jegou has now been cited under for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.12: A player must not physically or verbally abuse anyone (Physical abuse includes, but is not limited to, biting, punching, contact with the eye or eye area, striking with any part of the arm, shoulder, head or knee(s), stamping, trampling, tripping or kicking). He will face a disciplinary committee at 9.30am GMT on Tuesday morning.
Former Test referee Nigel Owens was surprised that television match official Brett Cronan did not pick up the incident live, suggesting it was “quite clear” what Jegou had done.
“It definitely should have been looked at. It doesn’t look good to be honest. Looking at that footage, that player is going to be in a bit of trouble,” Owens said on the BBC.
“There are processes in place now to deal with that but it should have been looked at in the game. It was quite clear what the actions were. It was a great game of rugby and it didn’t matter in the context of the game but on another day, where the score’s tight, things like this are the ones you really want the TMO to come in – the clear and obvious.
“I don’t understand. Obviously, the TMO will be looking, he will have all this footage – probably more than we’re seeing here – and when you look at that, you’ve got to bring it to the referee’s attention
“A Scottish player went over and did say to the referee, ‘something happened here, we need to have a look at it’, and I think the referee said: ‘There’s a process in place and if we couldn’t pick it up, they will look at it after in the citing process’.
“But if you’ve got clear footage like that, that’s what you want the TMO to come in for. Based on that clear and obvious, you want to pick those things up. It’s disappointing that it wasn’t picked up.”
France face England on the final weekend targeting the title despite their grand slam hopes being ended by a 50-40 defeat at Murrayfield.
A bonus point victory should be enough for Fabien Galthie’s side to defend their championship crown.