‘Oscar-winner’ White slammed for ‘killing’ rugby
Wallabies halfback Nic White has come under fire for ‘killing a little piece of rugby’s soul’ during Australia’s win against the Springboks on Saturday.
Bok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk was controversially yellow-carded towards the end of the first half for ‘striking’ Nic White as he swiped at the ball while attempting to disrupt the Wallabies scrum attack.
White fell to the ground, exaggerating the incident with antics familiar to the soccer field, but it was enough to convince referee Paul Williams to send De Klerk to the sin bin.
Australian commentator Sean Maloney said that the incident ‘would go down as one of the softest yellow cards of the year’, while former Springbok flyhalf Butch James said White’s antics were a ‘disgrace to the game of rugby’.
World Cup-winning captain John Smit took to social media to slam White for killing ‘a little piece of rugby’s soul’.
Yellow 9 just killed a little piece of Rugbys soul today
— John Smit (@JohnSmit123) August 27, 2022
Former Test referee Nigel Owens saw the lighter side of the incident, tweeting in reference to his famous moment when he told a Benetton player that “this isn’t soccer”.
Dam I retired to soon 😂😂😉😉🏉🏉 https://t.co/a8kVSIUJS7
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) August 27, 2022
What was faf even trying to do. If he got the ball it still would have been a penalty. White made a meal of it, but it's still head contact
— Brendan Shields (@Stardansheill) August 27, 2022
Owens explained that if De Klerk has successfully knocked the ball backwards from the scrum, he would not have been yellow-carded.
Not necessarily. If he had knocked the ball back it would have been play on
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) August 27, 2022
Read original story on www.sarugbymag.co.za
