'Complete joke decision': UK journalist speaks out about Owen Franks non-citing

Daily Mail rugby correspondent Chris Foy has lashed out at the decision to not cite All Blacks prop Owen Franks (pictured). Photo / Photosport

An English journalist has called the non-citing of All Blacks prop Owen Franks a 'complete joke decision'.

Franks wasn't cited for his alleged eye gouge incident on Wallabies lock Kane Douglas during Saturday night's test and the decision has not gone down well around the globe.

The backlash against Franks and SANZAAR has not relented, with the Daily Mail's Chris Foy voicing his disapproval of the decision to let Franks go unpunished while speaking to Andrew Mulligan on Radio Sport's Crowd Goes WIld Breakfast.

"They've absolutely got away with it, it's a complete joke decision," Foy said.

"Judging by my timeline on Twitter and a lot of the reactions of people I follow or see or speak to, everyone's in agreement.

"I mean I've had former players I've spoken to and heard from, and in this part of the world [the UK], everyone seems completely in agreement, because partly, in Europe, in the United Kingdom, there's been various cases in the past couple of years where things that didn't seem quite as bad examples as that particular offence have ended up with players being cited, go to a hearing, found guilty and banned for a long time when it seemed particularly accidental.

"So then we see those happening, and then we see what happened at the weekend and think 'this is completely inconsistent', which is the thing that infuriates everyone.

"If you go anywhere near that area [the face region], you're in trouble. It doesn't matter if you meant it as a sickening offense. Even if it's an accidental thing.

"We'll sympathize with those people when it's really obvious it's accidental, but they've still been punished by the judiciary for doing that, so then when you see this one, where it looks like he has one go, then he has another go, and you think it's a pretty open and shut case.

Shocking that Owen Franks isn't even being cited re alleged gouging incident. Match commissioners must review NZ matches like this... 🙈🙉.

— Chris Foy (@FoyChris) August 28, 2016

"I'm absolutely staggered that they've seen that and not taken any action. It was completely obvious what happened."

Foy went on to criticize the uncertainty and confusion that surrounds the laws of the game.

"One of rugby's problems is there's too many shades of grey about the laws. It's too open to interpretation and debate, that's one of the issues the game has got."