Ireland coach sure South Africa star will be banned after stamp footage emerges
Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty believes Ox Nche could be banned after footage of the South African stamping on Josh van der Flier emerged.
Nche came on eight minutes into the second-half of Saturday's Rugby World Cup blockbuster, which Ireland won 13-8. A converted try from Mack Hansen, as well as penalties from Jonny Sexton and Jack Crowley was enough to hand the Irish a crucial win in Pool B.
It was a win that has put them in firm control of the group heading into their final game, with a four point lead over South Africa. But their celebrations were marred after it emerged that Van der Flier had been stamped on.
Video footage of a ruck shows Nche standing on the flanker's hands for a number of seconds before moving away. Van der Flier then holds his hand in apparent pain, with Fogarty insisting Nche could be in trouble.
"I’m not aware if there was a stamping or not. I’m sure World Rugby will be looking across everything, referees will be looking across everything, At the moment in time, I’m sure there is (a mechanism available) if we needed to," he said.
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"I haven’t heard anything from our end. The disciplinary board will look at it. Josh is good, there's no obvious injuries at the moment. We managed to come out of what was a really physical game with a full bill of health. There's medicals on now, but at this moment in time there's no obvious injuries."
Ireland will secure top spot in the Pool with a win over Scotland a week on Saturday. That would set up a quarter-final against France, Italy or New Zealand, whichever of those three finishes runner-up in Pool A.
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Ox Nche appeared to stamp on Josh van der Flier at a ruck
Van der Flier was seen holding his hand in pain after the incidentDespite the large gap between their final game of the pool stages, Fogarty is confident his side can complete the job. But he cautioned them not to overcelebrate ahead of what will be a tough test.
He added: "It's important, isn't it? To make sure we're aware that that was a big win and we're obviously delighted with it. We took time with each other, enjoyed company. Nothing too mad at all.
"The dressing room is generally the best craic, you're there together and there's no outside distractions. There's a few moments there where I made it around to all the front-rows and discussed who they played against, how they got on.
"We enjoyed that time together in the dressing room. It's a late kick-off, we got back to the hotel around 1am so we didn't do the dog on it, but we enjoyed each other's company.
"We didn't talk too much about the next game. We took the time, families are over at the moment, there are wives and kids around, it's nice to be able to relax with them a little bit and also enjoy each other's company.
"But we're very clear on Scotland, they've improved year on year and they play today, they'll play Romania next week and they'll be looking to get a win."
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