British & Irish Lions
• What did the South Africans ever do for us?
Ireland Rugby
Two South African forwards banned following second Lions test
Last Saturday saw an awesome display of rugby by both sides in the second Test between the Lions and the Springboks in Pretoria. While the quality of play may have been good, many questioned the character of the players on the South African side where eye gouging and shoulder charging seemed to be the order of the day.
Bakkies Botha and Schalk Burger are both internationally recognised as leading forwards and one would have thought that they knew better. Burger in particular was errant in the manner in which he took part in gouging the Lions’ wing Luke Fitzgerald. A citing commission handed him an eight week ban for his trouble which means he is likely to miss most of the Tri-nations series between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia (if not all of it).
The other incident was perhaps more questionable as there were many who felt that Bakkies Botha should not have received a yellow card for his infringement. The forward was given a two week ban for what was termed a dangerous charge on prop Adam Jones.
While the Springbok camp has reacted with absolute indignation to both of these charges, it is clear that only the question about the Botha incident is valid. There is certainly no room for eye gouging and hoodlum behaviour as demonstrated by Schalk Burger in the second test.