HUGHES LOOKING A TWITTER NOW?

NATHAN HUGHES seems to have sabotaged any chance he had of playing in Wasps’ biggest game of the season by letting rip on social media.

The England No.8 hoped to be cleared of foul play at a hearing on Wednesday and set free to play in his club’s Champions Cup opener at holders Leinster. But midway through his four-hour appearance in the dock he took to Twitter to give his thoughts on the way things were going.

“What a joke,” tweeted the 27-year-old, who was answering a charge of punching Gloucester opponent Lewis Ludlow (the alleged incident, left). Hughes later deleted it, but the damage was done – the hearing suspended in order to, as disciplinary chief Gareth Graham put it, “deal with an issue that arose during the evening”.

Coming on the eve of England squad mates Dan Robson (ankle surgery) and Joe Launchbury (knee) being ruled out by injury, Hughes’ absence is the very last thing Wasps need. Worse still, a new hearing will be pushed back by up to a week, increasing the chances of a ban costing England his services too.

Hughes is suspended until that time and then, if found guilty, a ban of six weeks is likely – which would rule him out of England’s four-Test autumn series.