All-Blacks Captain Richie McCaw, no stranger to the dark arts himself, has revealed that the French players “were going for the eyes” in the World Cup Final.
While the All-Blacks were busy celebrating their long overdue success in the immediate aftermath of the tournament, McCaw gave short shrift to the notion that there might have been any foul play on behalf of the French and particularly Aurelien Rougerie, who appeared to headbutt McCaw and gouge at his eye during the final in Auckland (see clip below).
At the time McCaw said that he remembered being “poked in the eye or something … I don’t know if it was intentional,” but he had changed his tune quite significantly when speaking at a charity breakfast in Christchurch recently, according to a report from Fairfax Media.
Saying that the final had got “filthy”, McCaw added: “The French are worse when they are scared.
“They were as bad as they have been and were going for the eyes. 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 (Aurélien Rougerie).”
Rougerie was let off the hook during the Rugby World Cup Final as evidence that he was up to no good only came to light outside of the required 36-hour period during which a citing must be made.
In light of the Rougerie incident, the IRB will subsequently look at extending that window, but we can’t imagine Richie would be best pleased.
After all, if the authorities decide to flick back through the archives and retrospectively punish McCaw for some of the unsavoury incidents he’s been involved in down through the years, he wouldn’t have much of a career left.
