Story is all bark, without a bite

THE CAMERA does not lie. Or does it? The Springboks certainly believe it does and have demanded an apology from British newspaper The Daily Mail for publishing a photograph of prop Frans Malherbe,

pictured, “sinking his teeth”, as the paper put it, into the shoulder of US player Matt Trouville.

The Boks, and Malherbe, in particular, were shocked and angered at the claim and flatly denied it, and their view was backed up the citing commissioner for the match, with Rugby World Cup releasing a statement exonerating the 24-year-old tighthead on all allegations.

The statement read: “Independent Citing Commissioner Peter Larter (England) is satisfied that no alleged biting incident occurred during the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool B match between South Africa and USA on October 7. Mr Larter’s determination follows a detailed review of all video footage, an absence of a team referral and proactive dismissal by the USA team of claims made via social media that a South Africa player bit a USA player during the match. This matter highlights the need to exercise caution in respect of claims based on two-dimensional images.”

The stills picture taken by the Mail’s photographer appears to show Malherbe’s mouth in contact with Trouville but “real time” video footage shows that no biting took place and the photograph is a classic case of an optical illusion.

Springbok team manager Ian Schwartz said the Boks knew it was rubbish from the word go and have written to the Mail asking for a retraction and are considering taking the matter further because of the damage to Malherbe’s reputation.

“Frans is very upset, as is everybody in the squad,” said Schwartz.

“When I first told him about the story, he thought I was joking and he laughed. But he was shocked and devastated when he saw the picture.”

Schwartz said the newspaper owed Malherbe and apology.

“An allegation of this nature can do extreme reputational damage to a player and could be held against him for a long time to come,” Schwartz said. “We feel it is ridiculous and it is the kind of distraction that you don’t want when you are trying to focus on winning the World Cup. And it has been a distraction and has detracted from the good feeling in the camp after the excellent performance against the US.”