England captain waits to hear if he’ll be cited after yellow card
Rugby, pages 8-10
Dylan Hartley has an anxious wait to discover if he faces a potential citing ahead of Eddie Jones’s squad announcement next week after the England captain was shown a yellow card for a “reckless” strike in Northampton’s Champions Cup defeat against Clermont Auvergne last night.
The loss all but ends Northampton’s hopes of reaching the knock-out stages following their heavy opening round beating by Saracens. Hartley, pictured right, will hope it does not come at a further cost after he was sent to the sin bin in the first half for making contact with the head of Clermont tighthead prop Rabah Slimani as he tried to clear out a ruck.
The collision was reviewed by the television match official and referee Ben Whitehouse determined the challenge, which left Slimani with a bleeding nose, was a yellow card offence but was “reckless but not intentional”.
However, citing commissioner Douglas Hunter, from Scotland, still has 50 hours from the kick-off, 3.15pm UK time, to decide whether to cite Hartley if he feels the sanction should have been a red card.
Television reviews appear to show Hartley’s action was not intentional, but he may be at risk because of World Rugby’s directive that there should be zero tolerance on head injuries. The entry level for a striking is two weeks. Hartley received a six-week ban last December for striking Leinster flanker Sean O’Brien in a Champions Cup match, taking his career total to 60 weeks.
Clermont were deciding last night whether or not to cite Hartley themselves. Head coach Franck Azema said he could not make a decision until he had reviewed footage of the incident.
Jim Mallinder, Northampton’s director of rugby, admitted Hartley had been wrong to go off his feet but insisted it was not a red card offence and possibly not even a yellow.
“When you are playing top-level rugby but have got to be physical in your clear-outs, you have got to stay on your feet,” he said.
“I think Dylan needed to stay up there instead of going off the ground. “There was no intention, he was clearing and should have stayed on his feet.”
Slimani could also find himself in trouble as he was sent to the sin bin in the second half for a shoulder charge on Hartley, while Clermont’s bonuspoint victory came at a heavy price, with France fly-half Camille Lopez suffering a horrendous injury that has ruled him out of action for a minimum of five months with a broken left leg.
Lopez could be heard screaming after his leg was trapped between his opposite number Piers Francis in the first half. The game had to be stopped for eight minutes as he was taken off.
Lopez will miss all of France’s autumn campaign and is also likely to miss the start of the Six Nations Championship.
The disruption, however, had little impact on Clermont’s ability to close out the bonus-point victory, with his replacement Charlie Cassang scoring tries either side of half-time to put the French Top 14 side in control.
Despite the hostile environment, Northampton dug in and enjoyed the lion’s share of second-half possession, with a try by Christian Day giving brief hope that the game could be salvaged.
Their lack of ruthlessness in finishing was their undoing, and Clermont were able to secure the bonus point when Remi Lamerat cut through and after Lee had gone close and replacement prop Etienne Falgoux went over for the fourth try.
Mallinder, however, claimed his side showed enough character to suggest they had not given up hope of qualifying, with back-to-back games against the Ospreys in December.
“I am very proud of the lads,” Mallinder added. They really fronted up. Attacking-wise we were good, we got over the advantage line, we made lots