France flanker Oscar Jegou faces an anxious wait to discover his punishment after a disciplinary hearing into his alleged eye gouge on Scotland’s Ewan Ashman was delayed. The back rower was filmed making prolonged contact with Ashman’s eyes using his fingers shortly before the hour mark in the breathtaking 50-40 thriller at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Referee Angus Gardner took no action and the incident went unnoticed by the TMO, yet it provoked outrage among supporters and pundits, with legendary official and BBC pundit Nigel Owens left astonished that the player escaped punishment. In the aftermath of the match, Jegou was cited for alleged foul play contrary to Law 9.12, which covers physical abuse, including contact with the eye or eye area.
He was due to learn his fate before a disciplinary panel on Tuesday morning; however, the hearing did not go ahead.
The grounds for the postponement have not been revealed, but proceedings will now take place on Wednesday afternoon instead.
Confirming the citing on Sunday evening, an initial statement from tournament organisers read: « France (No. 7), Oscar Jégou, will attend an independent disciplinary hearing after he was cited for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.12 (A player must not physically or verbally abuse anyone. Physical abuse includes, but is not limited to, biting, punching, contact with the eye or eye area, striking with any part of the arm, shoulder, head or knee(s), stamping, trampling, tripping or kicking) in the Men’s Six Nations Championship match between Scotland and France on Saturday 7th March 2026.
« The player will attend the hearing via video conference before an independent Disciplinary Committee comprising Simon Thomas (Chair), Christopher Morgan and John Langford. The hearing will take place on Tuesday 10th March 2026 at 9.30am (GMT). »
A fresh update, offering no explanation for the delay, was released on Tuesday evening, confirming the hearing is now set for 2pm on Wednesday.
The incident horrified supporters, while Owens was left stunned that the referee had failed to address it as he broke down the contentious moment during the BBC’s match coverage.
« It definitely should have been looked at, » he said at full-time. « It doesn’t look good, to be honest. Looking at that footage, that player is going to be in a bit of trouble.
« There will be a process in place now to deal with that, but it should have been looked at it in the game, because it is quite clear what the actions were.
« It was a great game of rugby and it didn’t really matter in the context of the game, but on another day, in games where the score is tight, things like this are the ones where you really want the TMO to come in, for the clear and obvious. »
Asked why the TMO might not have flagged the incident, Owens added: « I don’t understand. The TMO would have all this footage, probably more than what we are seeing here. When you look at that, you’ve got to bring it to the referee’s attention.
« A Scottish player went over and did say to the referee that something had happened here and they needed to have a look at that. I think the referee said there was a process in place and they would look at it after in the citing process.
« But I think when you have clear footage like that, that’s what you want the TMO to come in for. For the clear and obvious, you want to pick those things up. It’s disappointing that it wasn’t picked up. »
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