The incident appalled viewers at the time, with many believing the Frenchman should serve a lengthy ban
France flanker Oscar Jégou has been banned for four weeks after being found guilty of eye-gouging during his side’s Six Nations defeat to Scotland.
Jégou was cited following an incident which appalled viewers, involving Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman during a maul in the second half of the dramatic 50-40 encounter at Murrayfield Stadium.
Video footage appeared to show the 22-year-old making prolonged contact with Ashman’s eye area close to the French try line.
The case is the latest high-profile eye-gouging incident in international rugby, following the lengthy suspension handed to Eben Etzebeth after an incident against Wales late last year.
The Springbok was banned for four months for his part in the shocking incident with Mann, however Jégou has, somewhat surprisingly, got off with a ban a quarter of the length of that.
An independent disciplinary committee handed Jégou a four-week suspension on Wednesday, ruling him out of France’s final Six Nations fixture against England as well as several club matches for Stade Rochelais.
A Six Nations statement explained that the disciplinary panel initially set the punishment using a six-week low-end entry point under World Rugby sanctioning guidelines.
“In applying World Rugby’s sanctioning provisions, the independent disciplinary committee determined that the low-end entry point of six weeks was appropriate in light of the fact that there was no injury caused to the victim,” the statement said.
However, the ban was reduced after mitigation was taken into account.
“In light of mitigating factors, including the player’s good conduct and disciplinary record, the independent disciplinary committee applied a two-week reduction in sanction, thus reducing the final sanction to four weeks. There were no aggravating factors to increase the sanction.”
Footage of the incident sparked a huge reaction online, with former internationals Sam Warburton and John Barclay speaking about it on BBC’s Rugby Special.
Warburton said: “Pressure does funny things to players and this was during that third quarter. We all remember the (Eben) Etzebeth incident during November and I remember thinking, when there was so much publicity around that, that no player was going to be dull enough to put their hands anywhere near.
“But that’s a blatant straight red and there’s no defence for that. You know what a ball feels like. That doesn’t feel like a ball. You know as a player, you can feel where your hand is going. That’s a straight red card. I don’t think there’s any arguments about that.”
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Barclay added: “People might look at that and think the game was won. But if he goes off at that point, France are down to 14 men for the rest of the game. 47-14 down. Do France come back and score to get the bonus point? I don’t know. But you don’t want to see those kind of things to get missed.”
Former World Rugby referee Nigel Owens was surprised the incident wasn’t picked up by the TMO.
“It definitely should have been looked at,” he said on the BBC’s coverage 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. Even if they look at it and then decide.”
Jégou’s suspension will cover the following matches:
- France v England – March 14
- La Rochelle v Pau – March 21
- Bayonne v La Rochelle – March 28
- Newcastle v La Rochelle – April 4
With Jégou unavailable for the final round of the championship, France head coach Fabien Galthié may look to reshuffle his back row, with experienced flanker Charles Ollivon among the candidates to start.