{"id":184390,"date":"2025-12-10T07:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T07:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/184390\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T07:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T07:15:07","slug":"world-rugby-vindicated-as-etzebeths-gouge-ends-ridiculous-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/184390\/","title":{"rendered":"World Rugby vindicated as Etzebeth’s gouge ends ‘ridiculous arguments’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Williams has slammed Eben Etzebeth\u2019s eye-gouge on Alex Mann as a \u2018dog act\u2019, but the former Leinster boss is satisfied with the subsequent ban.<\/p>\n

Etzebeth<\/a> has been suspended for 12 matches following his red card in the latter stages of South Africa\u2019s<\/a> 73-0 victory over Wales in the Springboks\u2019 final game of 2025.<\/p>\n

This means that he will be unavailable for the Sharks through to March next year.<\/p>\n

World Rugby vindicated<\/p>\n

Writing for the Irish Times<\/a>, Williams<\/a> hit out at the Springboks lock\u2019s actions but added that World Rugby\u2019s decision to introduce the 20-minute red card while retaining the permanent sanction has been vindicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe action that still sits at the pinnacle of the dog act table is regrettably still with us,\u201d the former Scotland head coach wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe senselessly violent act of Eben Etzebeth, in attacking the eye of Welsh backrower Alex Mann, did not just break the boundaries of the social contract of what is physically acceptable in our game; it smashed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Cardiff last weekend, in the 78th minute, despite South Africa leading 73-0, Etzebeth broke the game\u2019s law and rugby\u2019s lore.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the officials\u2019 credit, Etzebeth was correctly given a full red card by the referee, putting to bed once and for all the ridiculous arguments that the 20-minute red card had undermined the referee\u2019s ability to correctly sanction egregious foul play.<\/p>\n

\u201cEtzebeth received a full red card because his actions were on a totally different level of violence when compared to accidental head contact in a mistimed tackle. Our regulators have correctly changed the sanctions to differentiate between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Etzebeth\u2019s actions have been widely criticised by pundits, ex-players and even his former teammates.<\/p>\n

Ex-hooker Bismarck du Plessis described it as \u2018a horrible incident\u2019<\/a> while Schalk Burger joked that he was better off punching Mann<\/a> but added that it was \u2018silly\u2019.<\/p>\n

Former referee Nigel Owens and England legend Ben Youngs have also weighed in on the controversy with Etzebeth widely slammed for his actions.<\/p>\n

The \u2018part\u2019 of the Eben Etzebeth ban that frustrates England legend, who makes Rassie Erasmus prediction and issues \u2018help us understand\u2019 plea to South African fans<\/a><\/p>\n

The damage to Etzebeth\u2019s reputation<\/p>\n

The widespread denunciation from the rugby public is a positive, according to Williams, who believes that the length of the ban also serves as a warning to players thinking of committing similar acts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has been good for rugby is the condemnation of Etzebeth\u2019s actions by players, coaches and all sections of the media. It was an ugly, violent and dangerous act,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 12-game suspension that was handed down by the judiciary is a substantial punishment. The length of the suspension was not just because eye gouging is a dog act, but because it was committed by one of our game\u2019s best players. Being a role model carries both responsibilities and consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby\u2019s message regarding eye gouging to future generations has been made crystal clear. By giving Etzebeth a 12-week suspension, World Rugby is telling our current generation, and those of the future, that eye gouging is completely taboo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes Etzebeth\u2019s actions even more horrendous is that there is no doubt that after 141 test caps, he will rightly sit inside the pantheon of all-time great Springboks second rowers. He has been a player of immense influence and standing within our game. His outstanding abilities and prowess should have been a shining light for future generations. Instead, his actions serve as a warning beacon of the consequences that await any player who stoops to the lowest of the low and gouges a fellow player\u2019s eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cOnce again, a message is being sent by the judiciary to the entire rugby community. No matter your status, no one is bigger than the game and its laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere always were and always will be individuals in every sport who lose control of their emotions and commit senseless acts of violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegrettably, that is human nature. One of sports\u2019 main functions is to place young people into stressful competitive situations so they can learn how to control those emotions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they fail, no matter the profile of the player, the game\u2019s judiciary must confront and punish them severely or risk losing the social contract that protects every participant now and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0England great \u2018almost as confused as everybody else\u2019 by World Rugby\u2019s disciplinary process after Eben Etzebeth ban<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt Williams has slammed Eben Etzebeth\u2019s eye-gouge on Alex Mann as a \u2018dog act\u2019, but the former Leinster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[92599,1100,61,3859,60,25848,43,257,112,1448],"class_list":{"0":"post-184390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eben-etzebeth","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-internationals","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-matt-williams","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-south-africa","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-world-rugby"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}