Hughes faces longer ban for ‘joke’ tweet
NATHAN HUGHES may have cost himself two England caps and £50,000 in match fees as a result of a three-word tweet — ‘What a joke!’ — which he deleted within 15 minutes of writing it.
The 27- year- old Wasps No 8 appeared at a disciplinary hearing in Coventry on Wednesday night, charged with striking Gloucester flanker Lewis Ludlow during his club’s Gallagher Premiership defeat by the West Country club last Saturday. Proceedings began shortly after 7pm and, more than four hours later, the case was adjourned without a verdict being announced.
However, the RFU clarified that Hughes was suspended and would not be available for Wasps’ Heineken Champions Cup opener against Leinster in Dublin tonight. The reasons for the hearing being suspended have not been revealed, but Sportsmail understands Hughes’s decision to issue a comment on Twitter may be the explanation. At 8.37pm on Wednesday, he wrote: ‘What a joke!’
It is thought the outburst stemmed from frustration at a guilty verdict, though this remains unconfirmed.
Hughes may now face a harsher sanction because of the tweet. Any ban can be shortened on the basis of good conduct at a hearing and remorse. These factors are now unlikely to apply to Hughes, who faces a six-week ban for striking Ludlow.
He may now be banned for all England’s November Tests — against South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia — with his tweet potentially costing him caps against Japan and the Wallabies, each coming with a £25,000 fee.