Hughes pays a price for a ‘joke’ tweet

Injury-hit England’s problems intensified yesterday when Wasps No. 8 Nathan Hughes was given an extended six-week ban, missing three November Tests, after slamming a disciplinary hearing as a “joke” on Twitter.

Hughes’s case, following a citing for punching Gloucester’s Lewis Ludlow in the English Premiership on October 6, was adjourned after he tweeted “what a joke” during the initial hearing on October 10. That led officials to add two weeks to the fourweek suspension.