Bok winger Dillyn Leyds insists that Wallabies fullback Israel Folau did pull him by the hair in a tackle during Saturday’s Test, writes CRAIG LEWIS in Bloemfontein.
The rather bizarre incident occurred just before the break when Folau wrapped Leyds up in a high tackle, and then appeared to latch onto his hair as he pulled him to ground.
That incident raised the ire of Bok captain Eben Etzebeth, who went charging into Folau in seeming defence of Leyds, with a small melee breaking out from there.
While there were many calls on social media for Folau to be served with at least a yellow card for the apparent unsportsmanlike conduct, referee Ben O’Keefe opted against any serious sanction, while warning Etzebeth for his conduct.
The ‘hairgate’ incident then took another twist when Wallabies coach Michael Cheika took up his place at the post-match press conference, and vehemently denied that Folau had pulled Leyds by the hair.
‘He grabbed the guy around the collar,’ Cheika insisted. ‘He gets penalised for that and then the other bloke [Etzebeth] comes in and charges, and doesn’t get him [Folau] with the elbow, but he was angling that way, but nothing is said about that …
‘He [Folau] didn’t wrap his forearm around him or anything like that. That’s a penalty, that’s fine. But then the other guy comes charging in, and he’s the captain of the other team. I don’t get it.’
When calmly challenged on the version of events by a local journalist, Cheika became even more agitated.
‘He didn’t come in and grab him by the hair. Who tackles somebody by the hair? Forget about it … it’s a non-issue.’
Leyds himself then fronted up to the media just minutes later, and clarified what he had experienced.
‘It was 100% the hair. He actually pulled me by the hair twice. He had one go at it and then he got his left hand on and pulled me down again. I don’t know what their version of the story is, but 100% he got me by the hair.’
While this was one incident that sparked some controversy, there were a number of other questionable calls from referee O’Keeffe that could have left both teams feeling aggrieved.
Bok coach Allister Coetzee refused to comment on the officiating, but Cheika sought to suggest that the Wallabies had been hard-done by.
‘Ben is a very good young referee and he will be a great referee going forward, he has an excellent temperament, and he’s only just starting out with tier-one matches … But there were some forward passes, knock-ons and the like [that went unnoticed].
‘I think what was most disappointing for us is that the [Bok] penalty goal that equalised the game, there’s no doubt that [Pieter-Steph] Du Toit is offsides going into the ruck. Then on the other side, when Michael [Hooper] makes a tackle on [Elton] Jantjies, he plays the ball on the ground, and that’s a kick from right in front of the posts with three minutes to go. These are key moments …’
