La Rochelle hooker Pierre Bourgarit was shown a red card for eye-gouging England World Cup finalist Tom Curry in Sunday’s Champions Cup game.
Bourgarit was stood behind Curry during a scuffle between both sets of players when he reached around and grabbed Curry’s face, appearing to deliberately place fingers over his eyes.
Although Curry was not harmed, TMO intervention resulted in a straight red card for Bourgarit, who winked at Curry as he departed the pitch.
Sale went on to win the game 25-15 at the AJ Bell Stadium having played the entire second half with an extra man and the reaction on social media towards Bourgarit’s actions have been very negative.
So French from Bourgarit! Horrific thing to do going after Curry’s eyes for @staderochelais
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) November 24, 2019
Lovotti / Quaglio must have thought they had 'remarkable red card incident' sewn up this year but there's been some truly special efforts since from Vahaamahina and Bourgarit
— Russ Petty (@rpetty80) November 24, 2019
"That's madness of a Vahaamahina level."
Absolutely stupid, and infuriatingly dangerous 😡
La Rochelle hooker Pierre Bourgarit is sent off for foul play in an altercation he had nothing to do with.
No place for that on a rugby pitch. Goodbye.#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/S9x2qbN2jc
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) November 24, 2019
Mindless moment from Pierre Bourgarit.
Finger in the eye, intentional or not, red card.#SALvLAR #ChampionsCup
— Ali Stokes (@alistokesmedia) November 24, 2019
FFS Bourgarit! what were you thinking 😖
— Very Grumpy Girdle🇪🇺🏴 (@TanyaAGT) November 24, 2019
Blatant eye gouge from Bourgarit. That is sickening. The citing officer should chuck the book at him and ban him for bloody months. There is no place for that anywhere, no excuses.
— Tom Dare (@Repka) November 24, 2019
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