South Africa might have left east London last night believing they had emerged from a crisis but they could yet find themselves at the centre of a biting scandal.
While the match commissioner will want to examine video evidence to assess an incident that occurred in the first half of this Pool B encounter, Sportsmail’s photograph appears to show Springbok prop Frans Malherbe sinking his teeth into the shoulder of American lock Matt Trouville.
When shown the photograph here last night, Trouville told team USA officials he could not recall the incident, although he was wearing padding across his shoulders. A spokesman for the South Africa team, who was also presented with the picture, said: ‘We were not aware of that but if the judicial guys make something of it that is up to them.’
The official match press officer said it would be a situation for ‘citing officials’ to review if the alleged incident was missed by referee Pascal Gauzere. He certainly seemed to make no issue of it at the time.
Biting is regarded as one of the most serious offences in rugby, with Malherbe possibly facing expulsion from this Rugby World Cup if the authorities conclude that he has a case to answer.
When South Africa prop Johan Le Roux bit New Zealand hooker Sean Fitzpatrick’s ear in a scrum during a Test in 1994, he received an 18-month ban. Former England prop Kevin Yates was banned for six months for a similar offence while playing for Bath in 1998.
Not sure what is happening here is this a bite? more on @MailSport http://t.co/4v2bkWBmGY pic.twitter.com/594CTkdUGg
— Kevin Quigley (@KevinQuigley_DM) October 7, 2015
Even a low-level incident, as was deemed the case when Dylan Hartley chomped on Ireland flanker Steven Ferris’s finger during a Six Nations clash in 2012, saw the England hooker suspended for eight weeks.
In every other respect this was an impressive performance from South Africa, who have become the team to avoid in this group and now boast the joint leading try-scorer in World Cup history after Bryan Habana’s hat-trick drew him level with Jonah Lomu.
They emerge as pool winners despite that opening defeat by Japan, and the manner in which they have improved in each game since is something that is sure to register with Australia and Wales as they prepare for an encounter at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon that will pitch the loser against the Springboks in the quarter-finals.
Last night they were superb, running in 10 tries to leave the Americans reflecting on their heaviest World Cup defeat and the first whitewash of this tournament. That Habana ran in three second-half tries to match Lomu’s World Cup record of 15 only added to the sense of misery for the now-eliminated Eagles.
For the Welsh and the Wallabies, the road ahead is clear. They must win their final game to dodge the Boks and a probable semi-final against New Zealand, with Scotland the more likely quarter-final opponent for the winner.
Heyneke Meyer, such a chastened individual in Brighton on that first Saturday, is clearly growing in confidence. He joked that other teams might want to avoid Japan ‘because they nearly cost me…’
But he insisted he had no preference for who his side might meet next. ‘You have to beat every team and they are both quality sides,’ he said of Wales and Australia. ‘We just need to focus on what we have to do. But without sounding arrogant, if we play as well as we can we are good enough to beat any team.’
Meyer paid tribute to Habana, 32, who should have scored a fourth but knocked on as he tried to gather a chip through and slide over in the closing minutes.
‘This is more about the team than the individual but Bryan has always played well for me,’ he said.
Daily Mail