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.