Someone give this man an Oscar.
Australian halfback Nic White has been accused of milking “one of the softest yellow cards of the year” during Saturday afternoon’s 25-17 victory over South Africa at Adelaide Oval.
The Wallabies were leading by seven points in the 39th minute when Springboks halfback Faf de Klerk swiped at White’s face while attempting to disrupt the feed from the base of the scrum.
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The 32-year-old collapsed to the ground after the seemingly innocuous brush, prompting referee Paul Williams to award de Klerk a yellow card for striking.
“I know what you are trying to do,” Williams said.
“You are trying to go for the ball, but you’ve clearly got it wrong and struck someone directly in the face. So we can’t have that. I know you have got it wrong, but it is a yellow card.”
The bemused South African could only laugh as he jogged off the field.
“I’m not sure we want to go down this slippery slope, but to be fair to Nic White he got clipped in the face and it’s illegal,” All Blacks legend Andrew Mertens told Stan Sport.
Commentator Sean Maloney continued: “It will go down as one of the softest yellow cards of the year, no doubt.”
World Cup champion Butch James told SuperSport: “It’s a disgrace to the game of rugby that a player can behave like that.”
Former Springboks captain John Smit tweeted: “(White) just killed a little piece of rugby’s soul today.”
South African journalist Brendan Nel posted: “Nic White’s Oscar may be celebrated by those who don’t like the Boks. But it a poor advert for the game. This isn’t football. Theatrics may win you a penalty but they are a blight on the game. It is an embarrassment.”
White’s antics paid dividends, with Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete diving over for Australia’s second try of the afternoon less than eight minutes after the interval.
And not long after, Brumbies phenom Noah Lolesio set up Fraser McReight’s second try of the day in a gorgeous set piece from the back of a ruck, giving the Wallabies a huge 25-3 lead.
It was undeniably one of the Wallabies’ most complete performances in years, temporarily putting the Australians atop of the Rugby Championship ladder.
The Wallabies lost five lineouts and conceded a couple of scrum penalties, but they were small errors in an otherwise flawless outing.
“Test match rugby, it’s built on big moments. And normally the team that wins goes well in those big moments and we had quite a few in the back end of the first half,” Australian captain James Slipper said after the win.
“This group, I’ve said it a lot of times, it’s got a lot of character. It’s just about consistently performing and that’s probably our biggest challenge now is to back that effort up next week in Sydney.
“We’re very proud of the effort we showed today. It was a tough tour in Argentina. Pretty disappointing the way we finished over there. But to come here in front of an Adelaide crowd, Adelaide stadium, very proud of the effort we put in.”
South Africa still has not beaten the Wallabies in Australia since 2013.
