There is a fair chance that Springbok lock Bakkies Botha may still get to face the British and Irish Lions in the third and final test in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Springbok management have decided to appeal against Botha's two week suspension -- and looking at the video evidence, which suggests this was just an occasion when a player went hard into a ruck, there must be a good chance of the appeal being successful. If it is, Botha could be lining up alongside Victor Matfield at Coca-Cola Park after all.
Botha, along with Schalk Burger, was cited for foul play after the 28-25 win over the Springboks in Pretoria last week. Burger was banished from the game for eight weeks, a ban which the Bok management, after a prolonged and unnecessary furore sparked by the chief coach's inability to properly express himself at a press conference, have now accepted.
They never had a leg to stand on with Burger, for even if as Peter de Villiers claimed, the eye-gouging incident was not caused by malicious intent by the player, and was somehow an accident, the evidence against Burger was compelling.
But with Botha, who was suspended for two weeks for dangerously charging into a ruck, it is a different story. Few critics, either South African or overseas, believe the Botha decision was justified, and the two Bok assistant coaches said on Tuesday they could see no justification for the suspension.
"I thought that the Bakkies incident was an excellent bit of cleaning out, something I would even say was text-book stuff, something I would like to show to young players as evidence on how cleaning is supposed to be done," said Gary Gold, the Springbok forward coach.
"Everything was right about Bakkies's approach. He did everything right, going with the right body position, with the right intensity. Unfortunately, the Lions player got injured, and that is I think why such a fuss was made of this incident. Maybe people should consider that the Lions player was not in a good position in that ruck and may himself have contributed to his injury."
Gold's fellow assistant, Dick Muir, agreed with his view.
"When it comes to Bakkies, we did not see anything wrong with that challenge, and had it not been for the injury, no-one would have made any comment on it. We were very disappointed with the verdict, which is why we are appealing," said Muir.
The judicial hearing that heard Botha's case on Sunday night apparently made their decision to suspend him based on the fact that he was not bound to another player when he went into the ruck. The Bok defence will be based around their contention that no-where in the rugby law books does it say this needs to be the case.
There is no clarification as yet on when the appeal will be heard, but it is expected to be in good time so that Botha can prepare for Saturday's test if he is cleared.[/b]
