Boks won’t bite back over false Frans Malherbe claims

09 October 2015 - 14:55 By Craig Ray

The Springboks will not seek an apology from Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper after it made a flimsy claim that prop Frans Malherbe had bitten an opponent based on a single photograph. Malherbe was “devastated” at a report that appeared on Thursday that he bit American prop Matt Trouville in the first half of the Boks’ 64-0 Pool B win at the Olympic Stadium.Team manager Ian Schwartz vehemently denied the report and questioned the validity of the claim on the basis of single snapshot.The US team also denied the “incident” through social media channels. But the Boks will take no further action after Malherbe was cleared within hours.World Rugby moved quickly to investigate the matter and after studying video of the alleged incident they swiftly came to a conclusion that it was nonsense.“Independent Citing Commissioner Peter Larter (England) is satisfied that no alleged biting incident occurred during the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool B match between South Africa and USA on October 7‚” World Rugby said in a statement.“Mr Larter’s determination follows a detailed review of all video footage‚ an absence of a team referral and proactive dismissal by the USA team of claims made via social media that a South Africa player bit a USA player during the match.“This matter highlights the need to exercise caution in respect of claims based on two-dimensional images.”b4The Daily Mail published a photo of Malberbe’s mouth on Trouville’s shoulder‚ which could have been an instant as the pair clashed.“It was a still photo taken by the newspaper‚” Schwartz said. “Frans didn’t bite anyone and if you see the video it’s quite clear nothing happened.“It’s unfortunate for Frans because his reputation has been damaged and we’re not happy at all.“Frans thought we were joking when we told him there was a story about to emerge that he allegedly had bitten someone. I immediately contacted the US team and they said there were no complaints from their side.“Obviously once the newspaper report emerged World Rugby had to look into it. This whole thing is a distraction. You don’t want and need to focus on this type of thing; you want to focus on recovery and preparing for the play-offs. The whole squad was upset by the incident.”..

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