The most important voice in the alleged eye gouge incident involving Owen Franks has spoken.
Following plenty of outrage over the non-citing of the All Blacks prop, Wallabies lock Kane Douglas doesn't believe he was eye gouged and says he didn't realise how bad it looked until he saw replays after the match.
Speaking to the Courier Mail, Douglas was diplomatic in pouring cold water over what has been the hot topic following the All Blacks' 29-9 win last Saturday.
"I probably didn't realise how bad it looked until after the game (when watching it on TV)," Douglas said.
"My eyes were fine and it all happened so quickly I was on to the next thing in the game."
Douglas was reaching across a maul in the seventh minute of the test, with veteran tighthead prop Franks trying to stop him. Franks' hands repeatedly make contact with the face of Douglas in full view of French referee Romain Poite, who took no action.
The 27-year-old didn't feel like he was eye gouged however.
"I didn't think of it like that," he told the Courier Mail. "It was an All Black trying to stop me driving through the maul, arms everywhere and everything happening in a few seconds.
"I've got no issue at all but obviously you want to be protecting the eyes of players."
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was unimpressed by the incident post-match.
"I just saw it at the time. I'm sure the match review will pick it up," he said.
"They couldn't miss it - it was pretty in the open."
Former Irish and Lions skipper Brian O'Driscoll weighed in on the non-citing on Monday saying it was a farce that Franks wasn't cited.
O'Driscoll tweeted: "This is an absolute sham @WorldRugby ???! Makes a mockery of citing. If nothing comes of this it's a farce."