Wales captain grabbed in ‘nether regions’
Alun Wyn Jones has called for World Rugby to punish Joe Marler after the England prop grabbed the Wales captain’s groin in a Six Nations scuffle at Twickenham.
Marler was captured smirking on screen, after apparently tweaking Jones’ penis after a melee in the 10th minute of England’s 33-30 win yesterday.
Jones told reporters after the game that World Rugby should investigate. ‘‘What would you do?’’ Jones said. ‘‘I’ve got 138 tests for my country. If I react, I get a red card. It’s tough, isn’t it?
‘‘Hopefully World Rugby have a look at it. Joe’s a good bloke, lots of things happen on a rugby field.
‘‘It’s difficult as a captain these days because you can’t speak to a ref about anything, it feels.
‘‘There’s a lot of footage that has been shown, it seems like a lot of supporters saw what happened.
‘‘It’s very frustrating that we talk a lot about TMOS and footage reviews, yet there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it happening.’’
The Wales Online news site reported Marler could face a big ban, saying: ‘‘The low-end entry point for grabbing, twisting or squeezing the genitals under law 9.27 in World Rugby’s laws is a 12-week ban. A mid-range entry point would be 18 weeks, top-end would be 24-plus weeks and the maximum is 208 weeks.’’
Former test referee Jonathan Kaplan said Marler should have been sinbinned ‘‘for making contact with Alun Wyn Jones’s nether region’’.
‘‘There was a lot of amusement on social media following the incident, and it was clearly done in a light-hearted manner, but that is not the sort of behaviour World Rugby would want to see on a rugby pitch,’’ Kaplan wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
The incident happened as Jones tried to separate scuffling players. The Welsh skipper looked to match officials – including Kiwi referee Ben O’keeffe for support, but Marler’s action went undetected. Outspoken England coach Eddie Jones added to the controversy afterwards when he blasted a ‘‘bizarre’’ red card award by O’keeffe.
‘‘It was 13 versus 16 at the end,’’ Jones said after Wales had scored two tries after O’keeffe dismissed centre Manu Tuilagi for a shoulder charge which
‘‘It’s very frustrating that we talk a lot about TMOS and footage reviews, yet there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it happening.’’ Alun Wyn Jones
struck Wales wing George
North’s head.
When reporters asked who the 16th man was, Jones said: ‘‘You work it out. I usually do not comment on incidents like this but I am breaking my rule because I found the red card bizarre.
‘‘I do not know how you are meant to make a tackle when a guy is falling after a chop tackle.
‘‘Manu was coming over the top to kill the tackle. It’s absolute rubbish and there is no common sense in such situations.’’
Wales’ New Zealand coach Wayne Pivac thought O’keeffe made ‘‘the correct decision’’, which was made after watching video replays of the incident in the 74th minute, with England ahead 33-16.
Tuilagi’s banishment left England playing with 13 men, as replacement prop Ellis Genge had earlier been sinbinned following persistent infringing by the English defence. England’s depleted defence cracked, conceding two late tries after earlier dominating the match.
England – whose game against Italy in Rome has been cancelled due to the coronavirus – still have a chance of winning the tournament, but needed Scotland to upset unbeaten leaders France overnight.