Johannesburg - Springbok flank Pieter-Steph du Toit was a picture of remorse as he watched his team tackle France without him for nearly 70 minutes, and on Tuesday morning he will hope his contrition has an impact on a Word Rugby disciplinary panel.
Du Toit would love nothing more than to get the green light to play Italy on Saturday, after he saw red for accidentally making head contact with French centre Jonathan Danty in the 11th minute of the Boks’ 30-26 defeat.
Du Toit has an exemplary disciplinary record, and he will also argue that he was propelled into Danty by teammate Damian de Allende.
Bok forwards coach Deon Davids says they will plan the selection of the pack around Du Toit’s availability.
“Pieter-Steph's hearing is on Tuesday and if we get an answer soon, we’ll plan accordingly,” Davids said.
“There are processes that are followed when a player is yellow-carded or red-carded and for Pieter-Steph’s case, the same process will be followed.
“We feel sorry for Pieter-Steph that he got a red card in that clash. The Pieter-Steph I know does everything within the rules and doesn’t try to play outside of them.
“We'll make plans around that, and we’ll be happy to have him in the camp. We’ll accept the outcome of the hearing.”
Du Toit’s teammates did him proud by playing their socks off and the Boks deserved to get the win.
“At first we got a bit disjointed when we lost Pieter-Steph, but I must commend the players on how they reacted,” Davids said.
“We put ourselves under pressure at the start, but we recovered well in terms of the rewards and the execution from the line-outs and the scrums.
“The guys did well under those circumstances.”
IOL Sport