The incident marred Scotland’s remarkable 50-40 win over France at Murrayfield
France flanker Oscar Jégou faces a wait to learn his fate after a disciplinary hearing into his alleged eye gouge on Scotland’s Ewan Ashman was postponed.
The back rower was caught on camera making prolonged contact with Ashman’s eyes with his fingers shortly before the hour mark in the 50-40 thriller at Murrayfield on Saturday. No action was taken by referee Angus Gardner and the incident was not flagged by the TMO, but it sparked fury amongst fans and pundits with legendary ref Nigel Owens left stunned that the player was not punished.
Following the match, Jégou was cited for for alleged foul play contrary to Law 9.12, which covers physical abuse including contact with the eye or eye area.
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He was set to learn his fate by appearing before a disciplinary panel on Tuesday morning, but the hearing did not take place.
The reason for the postponement has not been disclosed, but it will now take place on Wednesday afternoon instead.
Announcing the citing on Sunday evening, an initial statement from tournament organisers read: “France (No. 7), Oscar Jégou, will attend an independent disciplinary hearing after he was cited 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) in the Men’s Six Nations Championship match between Scotland and France on Saturday 7th March 2026.
“The player will attend the hearing via video conference before an independent Disciplinary Committee comprising Simon Thomas (Chair), Christopher Morgan and John Langford. The hearing will take place on Tuesday 10th March 2026 at 9.30am (GMT).”
A new update, without explanation for the postponement, was issued on Tuesday evening, confirming it is now scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday.
The incident appalled fans, who described Jégou’s actions as “ugly” and “terrible”, while Owens could not believe it had not been looked at by the referee as he analysed the controversial moment as part of the BBC’s match coverage.
“It definitely should have been looked at,” he said at the full-time whistle. “It doesn’t look good, to be honest. Looking at that footage, that player is going to be in a bit of trouble.
“There will be a process in place now to deal with that, but it should have been looked at it in the game, because it is quite clear what the actions were.
“It was a great game of rugby and it didn’t really matter in the context of the game, but on another day, in games where the score is tight, things like this are the ones where you really want the TMO to come in, for the clear and obvious.
Asked why the TMO might not have flagged the incident, Owens added: “I don’t understand. The TMO would have all this footage, probably more than what we are seeing here. 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 that something had happened here and they needed to have a look at that. I think the referee said there was a process in place and they would look at it after in the citing process.
“But I think when you have clear footage like that, that’s what you want the TMO to come in for. For the clear and obvious, you want to pick those things up. It’s disappointing that it wasn’t picked up.”
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