South African rugby officials apologised for comments after the Springboks win over the British and Irish Lions that gave the impression that they condoned eye gouging.

Springbok enforcer Schalk Burger was earlier banned for eight weeks for gouging Lions winger Luke Fitzgerald in his country's dramatic second Test 28-25 victory on Saturday that sealed a series win.

Burger was yellow carded after just 32 seconds of the game by French referee Christophe Berdos but Bok coach Peter de Villiers refused to condemn his player's actions, saying that the flanker should not even have been sin binned.

"I don't believe it was a card at all," said De Villiers at the time.

"In the first minute already there had been a lot of needle and if you watch the whole game you will see how many yellow cards they were let off.

"This is sport, this is what it's about. If things were clear-cut then we shouldn't even bother preparing for a game. Everyone is entitled to their opinion."

On Monday, South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins and De Villiers issued a joint statement condemning all acts of foul play and sending out a clear message that such acts would not be tolerated in South African rugby.

"We would like to apologise to the rugby community for the erroneous impression that acts of foul play are in any way condoned by South African rugby," said Hoskins.

"That has never been the case and is not now, and we support strong action by rugby authorities when such acts occur.

"Rugby is a physical game and a hard game but it is a game that rightly prides itself on good sportsmanship and we as SARU categorically condemn any such action. SARU fully supports any action that the IRB feels appropriate to stamp out eye gouging in the game."

De Villiers added that as Springbok coach he was against play that was not in the spirit of the game.

"Eye-gouging is something that we as a team will never be part of," he said.

"The same applies to biting, head-butting, spear tackling or any other foul play that doesn't belong in the game.

"My comments on Saturday were based on what I know of Schalk Burger as a player and not on what occurred. It was never my intention to suggest that I condone foul play - that is the last thing I would ever do and I apologise for creating any other impression."

The statement was released after a press conference earlier on Monday when De Villiers gave a mixed response when asked whether he condoned eye gouging.

"You must understand very clearly that rugby is a contact sport," said the coach, who also described himself as a "God-given talent".

"If you really know the game and dissect it, you'll see all sorts of malicious and off-the-ball incidents. In this game, people sometimes get away with it.

"If you're not up to the contact why not go to a ballet shop and buy a tutu?

"In this game there will be collisions. There are no collisions in ballet.

"And the guy who wins the collisions hardest is the guy we always will select."

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