Two international gougings in one weekend is, you might say, one in the eye for rugby union. Yet they are only the latest in a line of high-profile cases involving what judiciaries carefully refer to as “contact with the eye area”. In other words, it does not have to be a full-scale scrape as vividly described by John Daniell in a recent book about his experiences in French club rugby, but a threat to so vulnerable a part of the body.

Yet punishments for what the sport regards as one of the most heinous of crimes remain varied. The minimum recommendation is a 12-week ban, but Schalk Burger, in Pretoria, and Sergio Parisse (the Italy captain and No 8), in Christchurch, got away with eight weeks after mitigating circumstances were taken into account.

What mitigating circumstances? The head is off limits and every player knows it. Whether the head is on the move and open to a swinging arm, or on the floor and at the mercy of what New Zealanders used to call, euphemistically, a “tickle with the sprigs [studs],” no player, professional or amateur, should go there.

It is too easy for a sudden motion, by accident or design, to shove a finger in the eye and half-blind someone, and rugby is famous for its sudden motions. I understand it was felt that Burger's hand passed over Luke Fitzgerald's eyes in the first minute of last Saturday's international with the Lions; certainly the interest of justice demands that every case should be judged on its merits, but it is impossible to ignore the potential for permanent damage.

Over the past two years, however, punishments have varied from eight weeks to six months. Now, yet again, the debate breaks out over violence in rugby and youngsters turned away, if not of their own volition, then that of their parents. This time it has been exacerbated by the contention of Peter de Villiers, the South Africa coach, that there was no gouging and, anyway, no intent.

It is now a game that is more brutally hard, but cleaner, too. However, in this Springboks-Lions series, there have been any number of complaints of cheap shots. The authorities have no room for manoeuvre. If the game believes gouging or the strong potential for gouging to be the worst of crimes, they have to show it with a minimum ban of six months.

Alan Quinlan, the Munster flanker, was banned for 12 weeks after being selected for the Lions and missed his only opportunity of representing the most famous touring side. Arguably he should have been suspended for longer, but, compared with Burger, who misses South Africa's next three internationals, the punishment is greater. If rugby's head is to remain above water, bans must be longer and they must - like the offence - be seen to hurt.