I’m not bothered about admitting it. I am still annoyed, hurt — however you want to put it — about the Lions game last weekend.

There were so many disgraceful aspects to what was otherwise one of the most intoxicating contests that, for many of us, the match itself was spoiled and the sport of rugby tainted by the actions of a few. To start with, though, my emotions are probably influenced partly by an incident prior to the second Test at Loftus Versfeld.

My brother was home last week for an interview, sporting an extremely bloodshot and sore-looking eye. As a member of Watsonians RFC, he and a crowd of his rugby mates got into the whole Lions spirit and organised a game against an assembled collection of South Africans based in Edinburgh in a mock Lions v. Springboks friendly warm-up match.

In terms of the standard of rugby, it was probably more akin to pub cricket. During the match he found himself at the bottom of a ruck with his arms pinned and suddenly felt someone’s hands groping for his eyes. That evening he ended up in A&E being treated by an eye specialist and was diagnosed with a tear in his eyeball, haemorrhaging and an eye infection due to dirty fingernails. There were no TV cameras, no touchjudges or professional referee, the scene was played out on Edinburgh Meadows, an incident which could have left him partially blinded.

Fast forward to thirty seconds into the real match and I, along with millions of excited rugby supporters, witnessed Schalk Burger maliciously gouge Lions’ winger, Luke Fitzgerald. To put this offence into perspective, Burger is 6’4 and weighs in at 16 stone. The young Irish winger has virtually the same build as myself — three or four shorter and more than four stone lighter.

Burger's stats do not do him justice. I remember playing against him in Cape Town five years ago and meeting him after the game. He looked absolutely enormous and virtually the only person in the room who eclipsed him in size was his father, also called Schalk. His old man’s handshake even outdid that of my former team-mate, captain and coach, Willie Anderson. If you have ever shaken Big Willie’s hand, you will understand.

However you dress it up Burger’s offence was off the ball, illegal, dangerous and crucially, premeditated. It smacked of nothing more than bullyboy tactics. An eight week ban is nothing short of a disgrace.

Let us also be clear — Schalk Burger should have been sent off, a straight red card. To a certain extent, the referee, Christophe Berdos, must shoulder some blame, but ultimately he was guided by his touchjudge, Bryce Lawrence.

Under the circumstances, the French referee did his best. He was certainly better than his performance the previous week when, as Television Match Official, he came across more like Rene from ‘Allo ‘Allo than an international rugby official.

The commentary last Saturday also picked up on the fact that Berdos had never previously refereed a Six Nations or Tri-Nations fixture. Why on earth was he chosen to arbitrate in one of the biggest games in modern rugby history? A potential tinderbox in which tensions were bound to run high. If it was based on the perceived need for impartiality, then this is simply a slight on the other international referees on the circuit.

While both team coaches must have agreed to the appointments, it still raises the seemingly perennial issues of accountability and transparency. Who took the decision to put his name forward?

However, it got even worse when I then witnessed the worst derogation of duty from Bryce Lawrence. He clearly saw the gouging incident, which took place right in front of him. However, his recommendation of ‘a yellow card at least’ was a complete cop-out and deeply confusing to an already linguistically-challenged Frenchman.

Lawrence’s refereeing of the scrums in the first Test was also bizarre, allowing ‘the Beast’ illegally to get the better of Phil Vickery. However, even his harshest detractors would at least have to admit that he was decisive. Sadly, the same cannot be said of his actions in the opening minute of the game on Saturday. The decision not to order Berdos to brandish his red card at Burger was another disgrace.

Finally my greatest ire is kept for Springboks coach Peter de Villiers. The man may be seen by some as entertainingly eccentric, but his comments after the second Test will have tainted his reputation for ever. His appointment to the head coach of the Springboks was arguably due much more to politics than to his coaching pedigree. Of course, we can understand why, as South African sport and rugby needs to continue to move forward.

De Villiers was selected partly because he symbolises the fundamental South African desire for equality and human rights. But Peter, what about my brother’s human right to play a sport and not run the risk of being blinded? If you accept responsibility, then you have to act with great discernment and consideration. He has failed those tests and let down a proud sporting nation. Even if he has now clearly been forced to issue a statement condemning illegal acts like eye-gouging the damage has been done.

The IRB should have him up on a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

Human nature being what it is, schoolboys will inevitably copy what they see on television, both good and bad. If we are not extremely careful, eye-gouging will make its way onto to the school pitch and appear with increasing frequency in the club game.

For the good of the sport, the IRB must now take immediate and considerable action. It is time to clamp down properly on one of the dirtiest and detestable rugby behaviours. A policy of zero tolerance is required with proper sanctions such as a minimum one year ban and, most importantly, if the message is to be clear, consistency across all the rugby-playing nations.

The key man in all this is IRB President, Bernard Lapasset, as he can drive forward change and reform. How ironic that it is in his own country, France, that eye-gouging is regarded as being virtually endemic in the sport; part of rugby culture and accepted as such. If Lapasset is to take a strong stand and clean up the game globally, he could do a lot worse than start by first of all cleaning up his own backyard.