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Richie McCaw breaks silence on eye gouge

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BPC

BPC

Phil Hardcastle (33)
From SMH/RugbyHeaven:

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has admitted he was "surprised" the International Rugby Board did not cite French player Aurelien Rougerie for the infamous eye gouge in the Rugby World Cup final.

Speaking for the first time about the incident, McCaw said the final against the French got "filthy" when he was eye-gouged.

"The French are worse when they are scared ... They were as bad as they have been and were going for the eyes," he said.

"My eye was a bit sore for a while and I was struggling to see for a bit. I was surprised they didn't cite him."

Rougerie escaped being cited for foul play in October's final, despite new video evidence showing the France centre had a case to answer. No action could be taken because the new evidence came outside the required 36 hours after the match. The IRB will now look at extending the citing window after reviewing the footage.

At a breakfast fundraiser in Christchurch yesterday, McCaw spoke openly about the eye-gouging incident and other Rugby World Cup experiences.

While he was half-blinded in the final few minutes of the game, the team was trying to decide whether to kick the ball or hold it.

There was confusion over the best way to play and, in a last-minute decision, the All Blacks held the ball. "Everyone thinks we were all composed out there," McCaw said. "At least it worked out OK in the end."

In the moments after the whistle, he felt "sheer relief" but it took a few weeks before the realisation of winning kicked in.

While the final was tense, he said the team had never been better prepared than for the semi-final against the Wallabies. Within minutes of the game starting, "you could see it in their eyes" that the Australians were beaten, McCaw said.
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I am a bit torn about this. Eye-gougers should be rubbed out of the game. It is a disgraceful and vile act. On the other hand, the sudden proposal to change the citing laws now that St Richie the Unimpeachable has been attacked annoys me given the same situation occurred with O'Driscoll years ago (late but conclusive footage) but the citing laws weren't changed after the cheap shot back then.

Also I have to be fair and admit that the comments about the Australian players annoy me but I have to suspect there is a fair bit of truth in them as Australia never looked in the hunt against New Zealand.
 
biggsy

biggsy

Chilla Wilson (44)
Ahh Richie stop spreading Fibs, you probably think Cooper met to knee you in the head as well. He has got away with more than his fair share of niggles and offences over the years.
;)
 
SaderCheif

SaderCheif

Jimmy Flynn (14)
Settle down boys. Im kind of torn about this aswell but for a different reason. Im fully against eye gougeing but for ffs Richie, why bring it up now and not the before the cut off?
He was probably too pissed/hungover and trying to find the lid of the world cup somewhere in the countyside.......gold.
 
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