Glasgow Warriors play down talk of alleged gouging in Sharks defeat in South Africa

Frozen video images appear to show Eben Etzebeth, the Sharks international second row, making contact with Glasgow’s Henco Venter around the eyes. No action was taken by match referee Chris Busby nor was the incident flagged up by television match official Andrew Brace.

Nigel Carolan, the Warriors assistant coach, said there had been no complaint from their player and suggested the still images may have made the incident look worse than it appeared.

“Look, Henco didn’t report anything and it was [something] the citing commissioner has refuted and he’s passed it as acceptable,” said Carolan.

“Some of the optics don’t look great on it but I think when you slow down everything into a freeze frame there are many instances that can look worse than they are. We’re certainly not pursuing anything with that.”

Glasgow lost the match 28-24 but secured two bonus points thanks to late tries from Rory Darge and Johnny Matthews. The play the Stormers in Stellenbosch this weekend but will be without loosehead prop Nathan McBeth who suffered a medial collateral ligament injury against the Sharks.

“Unfortunately, he did his MCL on his knee so he’ll need to nurse himself back to recovery,” said Carolan. “We’re fortunate that we’ve got Rory Sutherland and Jamie Bhatti with us here and they’re both raring to go.”

Carolan also reported that scrum-half George Horne had sustained a “bang on his leg” during the game in Durban.

McBeth’s injury is likely to rule him out of contention for Scotland’s autumn Test series which begins a week on Saturday against Fiji and continues with games against South Africa, Portugal and Australia. National coach Gregor Townsend will name his squad on Wednesday and Carolan believes Glasgow's two games in South Africa are ideal preparation for the Warriors' Scotland contingent.

“We see these two matches, against the Sharks and the Stormers, as fantastic prep for Scotland as they lead into their autumn internationals, particularly [for] their second game against South Africa,” said Carolan. “I think our players will be battle-hardened for that game and they’ll have a better understanding of what they’re going to face at Murrayfield in a couple of weeks.”