SO, for 10 months or more I have been defending Eben Etzebeth, and by implication referee Ben O’Keeffe, for the deliberate knock on incident in South Africa’s World Cup quarter-final against France last year.
Incredible skill and anticipation and knowledge of the law, I argued, from Etzebeth as he prevented what looked like a certain try in a game France ultimately lost by one point.
The key thing was that from the ground level tv footage – the only footage shown at the time – the ball appeared to go backwards so all bets were off despite the immediate prot...