ALLEGATION AND RUMOUR of ‘eye-gouging’ was given short shrift by the Ireland camp after their comprehensive 46-24 win over Argentina at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
After a scuffle in the second half, Irish players could be clearly heard over referee Jaco Peyper’s microphone appealing: ‘Eyes, eyes!’ And a still from RTE’s television coverage was posted to Twitter by the Irish Examiner’s John Fogarty during the game.
While not entirely conclusive, the below image would appear to show clear contact with the eye area of Peter O’Mahony – in contravention of IRB Law 10.4.
O’Mahony faced the press afterwards bearing no telling scars, but when quizzed on the matter he sternly dead-batted the question away, saying:
“That’s nothing to do with me. That’s for other people to worry about.”
The response was very much along the party line as minutes earlier in another room Declan Kidney addressed the issue with an identical message, if not the same words.
“I think that’s why you have neutral citing officers.” Said Kidney, “If there is anything there, they will step in. That’s their role.”
French citing commissioner Yann Ledore will now be expected to raise the issue with the IRB disciplinary committee tomorrow.
