Former All Blacks lock Chris Jack says that he may have dislocated referee David McHugh’s shoulder during the infamous incident in 2002 involving Springbok fan Piet van Zyl.
In the Test between South Africa and New Zealand in Durban in 2002, Van Zyl – who was outraged by a couple of decisions that went against the Boks – ran onto the field and attacked the Irish referee.
Van Zyl was then brought down by Bok flank AJ Venter and All Blacks loose forward Richie McCaw. His nose was bleeding as he left the field, while McHugh also left the scene with an injured shoulder.
Now, 16 years after the incident, Jack has revealed that he and teammate Dave Hewitt may have been responsible for McHugh’s injury.
‘I just thought it was their second-five coming into talk to the referee or halfback about something,’ Jack said in an interview with Radio Sport. ‘And then I popped my head up and there’s this big fat bugger on the referee.
‘We got a bit of a surprise and then we saw AJ Venter and Richie McCaw on top of someone. So myself and Dave Hewitt saw the referee under there and saw what was going on and we tried to pull the poor referee out. He started squealing a little bit and I think we may have dislocated his shoulder,’ Jack explained.
‘Games after that, I went to shake his hand and he wouldn’t give me the time of day but he was all over Richie, so he obviously held a wee grudge against me for pulling him out.’
Photo: Ross Land/Getty Images
