Eddie Jones bizarrely refers Etzebeth gouge as a ‘minor incident’

An interesting take.

The rugby discourse over the past few days has been dominated by the fallout from Eben Etzebeth's blatant eye gouge against Wales.

The Springbok lock was widely condemned after being sent off for sticking his finger in the eye of Wales' Alex Mann during his side's 73-0 win in Cardiff.

However, Japan coach Eddie Jones, who is well known for his controversial takes, has played down its significance.

Speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast, he said: “In the context of the game, I think it’s quite a minor incident.

“Look, it’s not good for Eben. I’m sure he regrets doing it. It looked intentional, which is not fantastic.

He then discussed the poor state of the Welsh side, adding: “I think there are bigger issues coming from the game, some of which were discussed before, and definitely just for Wales in terms of how they fast-track their progress.

“How they update their development system, that would be the key thing for me.

“They’ve let their development system go – quite clearly – and they’re paying the price for it now and the only way they can fix it is to try to shift all the political boundaries that are put on moving and changing the system and get on with it. Otherwise, you know, it’s going to be a tough time for Wales going forward.

“Because the countries that have done it and we’ve seen it with Ireland, Scotland, to a lesser extent, New Zealand consistently are able to produce teams that are sustainably successful.

“Wales had a very successful period under Gatland, but at the end, it was falling off, and they’re paying the price for it now.”