Crunch time for Marler
JOE MARLER is facing a season-ending ban for grabbing the genitals of Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones – and may never play for England again.
The Harlequins prop has been ordered to appear before Six Nations disciplinary chiefs in Dublin on Thursday to answer a charge of contravening rugby’s spirit of good sportsmanship.
England team-mates Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes will join him in the dock for no-arms hits in the same game. Tuilagi was sent off while Lawes went unpunished.
And organisers have confirmed there is no deadline for them to rule on whether Eddie Jones will be charged for suggesting referee Ben O’keefe was biased against his team on Saturday.
Marler, 29, is in the biggest trouble as the starting point for his alleged offence is 12 weeks – and if found guilty his chequered track record will not allow for much, if any, discount.
“It is a shame. Everyone is talking about it and they want to make sense of it,” said Ugo Monye, the former England wing and team-mate of Marler.
“For Joe, if that is your last game in an England shirt, if that is the last time you ever play at Twickenham – and I think there is every likelihood it could be – that is the sad thing for me.”