‘Oscar-winner’ White slammed for ‘killing’ rugby

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Wallabies halfback Nic White has come under fire for “killing a little piece of rugby’s soul” during Australia’s win against the Springboks on Saturday.

Bok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk was controversially yellow-carded towards the end of the first half for “striking” White as he swiped at the ball while attempting to disrupt the Wallabies scrum attack.

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White fell to the ground, exaggerating the incident with antics familiar to the soccer field, but it was enough to convince referee Paul Williams to send De Klerk to the sin bin.

Australian commentator Sean Maloney said that the incident “would go down as one of the softest yellow cards of the year”, while former Springbok flyhalf Butch James said White’s antics were a “disgrace to the game of rugby”.

World Cup-winning captain John Smit took to social media to slam White for killing “a little piece of rugby’s soul”.

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Former Test referee Nigel Owens saw the lighter side of the incident, tweeting in reference to his famous moment when he told a Benetton player that “this isn’t soccer”.

Owens explained that if De Klerk has successfully knocked the ball backwards from the scrum, he would not have been yellow-carded.

Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

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Dylan Jack