HARTLEY ‘PICKED ON BY THUG POLICE’
NORTHAMPTON accused rugby’s thug police of picking on Dylan Hartley – after a citing complaint against their England captain was thrown out.
Hartley stood accused of foul play and faced potentially being banned from the November internationals for an ‘offence’ which video footage clearly showed to be accidental.
A three-man disciplinary panel duly dismissed it – to the relief of Red Rose boss Eddie Jones, who lost prop Joe Marler to a three-week suspension at the same hearing. But that was not the end of the matter as Saints boss Jim Mallinder let rip at the decision of Scottish citing commissioner Douglas Hunter to refer the case to the court.
Mallinder raged: ”Citings like this do beg the question of whether Dylan is being singled out for what has happened in the past rather than being judged on Saturday’s game.
“The decision was unjustified. This was a run-of-the-mill rugby incident during a high intensity game of European rugby.
“Anyone who watched the game could see that this was completely accidental – a misjudgement at a clear–out.
“When we should be preparing for a crucial game against Wasps we have instead been distracted by what we believe was an unwarranted hearing.”
Hartley will today be named in Jones’ 34-man squad for matches against Argentina, Australia and Samoa – as will Wasps No.8 Nathan Hughes, whose two-week ban for striking ends before the Nov 11 opener. But Marler’s ban, for striking a Wasps opponent with his elbow, rules him out of the first two of those Tests. John Kingston, Marler’s Harlequins boss, conceded: “Players can’t take the law into their own hands and Joe accepts that.”
Kingston’s mood was darkened further by a threeweek suspension handed to his hooker Dave Ward for striking Thomas Young with his head in the same Wasps game.
With Kyle Sinckler already serving a ban for gouging, Quins now have their entire firstchoice front row unavailable for disciplinary reasons.