The Mail on Sunday

MARLER IS ON BRINK OF QUITTING

- By Nik Simon

ENGLAND prop Joe Marler is considerin­g quitting rugby with immediate effect.

He has become disillusio­ned with the sport after receiving a 10-week ban for grabbing Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones by the genitals.

The incident prompted a torrent of abuse on social media leading Marler, 29, to deactivate his accounts on Twitter and Instagram. But the disciplina­ry hearing was branded a ‘witch-hunt’ in some quarters against one of rugby’s most colourful characters.

A year remains on Marler’s Harlequins contract but he has not returned to the club since the Six Nations. He had reasserted himself as first-choice loosehead for England during the Six Nations as coach Eddie Jones shored up his team’s scrum.

 ??  ?? CONTROVERS­Y: Marler’s grab of Jones led to a 10-week ban
CONTROVERS­Y: Marler’s grab of Jones led to a 10-week ban
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