Heaslip won’t face gouging charge as Boks rebuffed

THE Six Nations last night confirmed to the IRFU that none of a number of referrals made by South Africa against Ireland players during Saturday’s international at Croke Park were upheld by citing commissioner Douglas Hunter.

An IRFU statement said: “The Ireland management is disappointed the name of Jamie Heaslip 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.”

South Africa asked the citing commissioner to investigate a claim that the finger of Heaslip made contact with the eye area of Heinrich Brüssow. The Springboks claim the incident happened in the first half of the match.

During the summer Irish supporters were outraged by Schalk Burger’s gouging of Irish wing Luke Fitzgerald in the opening seconds of the second Lions Test, an offence which got Burger an eight-week ban. Boks captain John Smit later revealed in his autobiography that a “senior Irish player” vetoed plans for the Lions to join their opponents for a post-game drink, while the Boks failed to clap their opponents off the field on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ireland out-half Jonathan Sexton could be sidelined for up to a month after sustaining two broken fingers on Saturday.

Sexton played on until the end of the game, kicking all of Ireland’s 15 points from penalties, but he left the field holding his hand and the injury was X-rayed yesterday.

Sexton will have a scan on the injured hand to determine the full extent of the injury but the knock is particularly bad news for Leinster, as he is likely to be ruled out of the province’s two Heineken Cup games against the Scarlets in December, crucial games for the men in blue as they seek to retain their European title.

No further news on Sexton’s injury is likely to be known until tomorrow.