Stormers' Deon Fourie has explained his 'scuffle' with Joe Marler

Veteran Stormers forward Deon Fourie has got Joe Marler off the hook following allegations of skullduggery about the out-of-favour England prop arising from a first-half incident in last weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup round-of-16 tie in Cape Town against Harlequins.

The 36-year-old Fourie has been a revelation in the first season that South African clubs have been permitted to take part in the premier European tournament. His winning of four turnovers versus Quins moved his tally for the campaign up to a chart-topping 12.

A particular Marler incident with Fourie during the match was criticised by Swys de Bruin, the ex-Springboks assistant, when he highlighted some of the prop's in-game mischief in a review on the Super Sport Final Whistle programme.

An initial clip was shown of Marler being a nuisance after a scum, but it was a second clip involving a clash with Fourie that most drew the ire of de Bruin. That showed Marler reaching across at a breakdown and grabbing Fourie in an uncompromising position.

“Here is chapter two of the Joe Marler story,” said de Bruin on the South African TV show. “They [the Stormers] are defending, he comes in and look what happens, he is coming in on the clean. It’s not so kosher what he is doing there, and Deon Fourie doesn’t enjoy it. Deon said, ‘No mate, that’s not on, you can’t do that, it’s just not rugby’. He goes down and gets treated.

“But I want you to have a look at what he [Marler] really did, what really annoyed Deon Fourie… I have got to pick my words correctly… That is the last thing that you want, to get that treatment. That was Joe Marler. Do we need those characters? Yes. But maybe we don’t need that last action so much.”

The allegations by the South African coach generated negative headlines about Marler but Fourie has now moved to downplay the incident, insisting that the scuffle that materialised was about something else and not what had allegedly occurred at the breakdown when the game was in play.

He tweeted: “Just to set the facts straight between me and Joe Marler. The scuffle between us was about something else he did while I was sitting on the ground and waiting for the medical staff to clean the blood from my face. Nothing else happened. Except 32-28.”