Marler responds to his genital grab
England prop Joe Marler has responded with rustic bluntness to the furore over him grabbing the genitals of Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones during England’s 33-30 Six Nations rugby victory against Wales on Saturday.
Jones condemned Marler’s action, which has resulted in a social media storm, with some claiming Jones had been sexually assaulted.
Wales had had a try disallowed 10 minutes into the game and in the resulting melee, a smirking Marler gave Jones’s genitals a tweak. It was caught on the TV coverage.
Jones called World Rugby to investigate the incident.
‘‘If I react, I get a red card,’’ Jones said. ‘‘So 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.
‘‘here is a lot of footage that has been shown, obviously. It seems there is a lot of supporters that saw what happened.’’
‘‘It’s frustrating. That fact that we talk a lot about TMOs [television match officials] and footage review and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it happening.’’
Marler has responded via Twitter, albeit briefly. ‘‘Bollocks, absolute bollocks,’’ he posted. However, it seems likely that Marler will be cited.
Wales flanker Justin Tipuric revealed that Peter Ferguson, the citing commissioner, had been talking to Jones in the away dressing room, The Telegraph reported.
Citings have to occur within 48 hours of the final whistle, with the deadline around 5am Tuesday NZT.
Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas was commentating on the match for ITV and has ended up in a sidestorm controversy over his remarks. Thomas, who is gay, jokingly said: ‘‘It would’ve never have happened in my day and I’m upset about that because, if it had, I would have never retired.’’
Thomas has since apologised on social media, ‘‘to the VERY small minority of people who were offended’’.
‘‘I tried to find humour in a situation – that doesn’t mean I condone it, it means I wanted it to not be an issue.’’
Ex-England international Andy Goode had taken Thomas to task on Twitter, saying: ‘‘Imagine if someone touched another man or woman up in the workplace and then someone joked about it on TV.
‘‘People have admiration for Gareth Thomas with what he’s been through and opened up about but I wonder if something similar was done in a homophobic way he’d joke about it?’’
Meanwhile, England centre Manu Tuilagi will face a disciplinary hearing after being sent off for a shoulder charge on Wales wing George North.
The Telegraph reported that England coach Eddie Jones could also be in trouble with the judiciary, after calling the red card ‘‘a load of rubbish’’.
He said his team were playing against ‘‘16 men’’, implying the referee, New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe, was on Wales’s side.