{"id":814789,"date":"2026-10-26T21:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T21:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814789\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T21:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T21:38:10","slug":"tadhg-furlong-cited-after-testicle-grab-allegation-as-nations-championship-participation-in-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814789\/","title":{"rendered":"Tadhg Furlong cited after testicle grab allegation as Nations Championship participation in doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland<\/a> and Leinster star Tadhg Furlong has been cited after he allegedly grabbed the testicles of Munster\u2019s Gavin Coombes during Saturday\u2019s clash between the Irish giants.<\/p>\n

The number eight was heard complaining to referee Andrew Brace just before the break, accusing an opposition player of grabbing him in the groin area.<\/p>\n

It has now been revealed that the accused player is tighthead Furlong<\/a>, who will now go before an independent disciplinary committee where his fate will be decided.<\/p>\n

URC statement<\/p>\n

\u201cLeinster Rugby\u2019s<\/a> Tadhg Furlong has been cited for an incident that occurred in the 37th minute of the United Rugby Championship Round 4 fixture at the Aviva Stadium against Munster Rugby on Saturday, October 24,\u201d a United Rugby Championship<\/a> statement read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Citing Commissioner in charge has made a complaint about an act of foul play by the Player (Tadhg Furlong No 3) against opponent Gavin Coombes (No 8).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Player has been cited under Law 9.27 \u2013 A player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship including but not limited to grabbing, twisting or squeezing the genitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cArrangements for the disciplinary process are currently in progress and will be announced in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brace and the TMO reviewed the action following Coombes\u2019 complaint but they could not find any clips which proved any wrongdoing at the time.<\/p>\n

However, it was reported that Munster<\/a> had \u201cclear footage\u201d of the incident which was available to the citing commissioner.<\/p>\n

The province\u2019s head coach also backed his number eight in the post-match press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that we leave in the hands of the powers that be,\u201d Clayton McMillan told reporters. \u201cAll I know is that I back our players 100 per cent that if they make an allegation like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t do it lightly, and that\u2019s not the sort of person Gavin is, so we\u2019ll see where that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remarkable coincidence between Gavin Coombes and Jan-Hendrik Wessels testicle grab incidents as double standards claim to be tested<\/a><\/p>\n

Views of the respective head coaches<\/p>\n

McMillan\u2019s opposition boss, Leo Cullen, played it down, however, suggesting that Coombes had \u201cchanged his mind\u201d over the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see anything there, from what I can see. Obviously, if that is the accusation\u2026 but I\u2019m not seeing anything on first view,\u201d the Leinster head coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t know. It looked like he [Coombes] had changed his mind halfway through that accusation as well. So I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to clarify what he meant by that, Cullen responded: \u201cWell, that\u2019s the way it sounded, once the scrum was packing down.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t know. Obviously, once that accusation is made, it becomes a serious matter for the citing commissioner. So my comment is not going to help in any way here.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut from what I\u2019ve seen, I can\u2019t see anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should Furlong be found guilty, the Ireland<\/a> prop\u2019s Nations Championship participation would be in serious doubt.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Munster have \u2018clear footage\u2019 of alleged testicle grab incident in wake of serious accusation against Leinster star<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland and Leinster star Tadhg Furlong has been cited after he allegedly grabbed the testicles of Munster\u2019s Gavin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[348,3482,2274,65320,65380,134497,50,5903,101,159708,56,54,16296,55],"class_list":["post-814789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-ireland","tag-leinster","tag-munster","tag-nations-championship","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-tadhg-furlong","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-rugby-championship","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}