Eye-gouging is rugby's most shameful act, and the fact it continues to be an issue in 2016 is a disgrace to the game.
Brive's Mathieu Egale became the latest player to add himself to the roll of dishonour when the fly-half clearly made contact with the eyes of Grenoble's Armand Battle on Sunday, after three players had been red-carded following a horrible all-in brawl.
The list of players who've served suspensions extends right through the decades, raising serious questions as to why the game's administrators have failed to act appropriately.
The tip tackle was a serious problem for rugby little more than five years ago before World Rugby moved to ensure player safety and referees starting issuing red cards -- including that given to Sam Warbuton in Wales' dramatic Rugby World Cup semifinal loss to France.
Warburton was later handed a three-week ban.
Eye-gouging suspensions have varied over the years, but the fact that it remains a problem in the professional era suggests that they are not of such a length to act as a deterrent.
But there is simple black-and-white solution, one that would remove the ambiguity around similar allegations that saw Argentina lock Mariano Galarza cop a nine-week ban at last year's World Cup but then saw All Blacks prop Owen Franks escape citing in Bledisloe II a fortnight ago.
If a player puts his or her hand or hands on the face of an opponent then they should be slapped with an automatic one-year ban. Knowing they will spend a season on the sidelines, and potentially jeopardise their careers, players then will surely think twice about what they do with their hands.
At the moment, the judicial process for each individual competition is handled by the tournament organiser, which in the case of the Franks' incident was SANZAAR. At the World Cup it was World Rugby.
But there needs to be a blanket approach to eye-gouging across the game, and World Rugby must exercise whatever jurisdiction it has to have all regional alliances sign on to the same guidelines to help rid the game of its greatest shame.
World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot spoke of the lack of consistency following the Franks' non-citing, and he now has the chance to be part of the solution.
This is not about a global season or the distribution of Rugby World Cup profits, whereby individual Unions or regional alliances have the right to push for what suits them best; this is about the removal of eye-gouging once and for all.
It has been a part of rugby for far, far too long.