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Joe Marler handed lengthy ban by Six Nations disciplinary committee

(Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside via Getty Images)

England’s Joe Marler have been banned for ten weeks after appearing before an independent disciplinary committee in Dublin.

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The loosehead prop had been the subject of a citing complaint by the independent citing commissioner, Peter Ferguson, following last Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations match against Wales at Twickenham. 

The citing complaint alleged that Marler had infringed law 9.27 (acts against the spirit of good sportsmanship) when he grabbed, twisted or squeezed the genitals of Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones in the first half of the match.

Marler accepted that he had committed an act of foul play, albeit that he did not accept that he had grabbed, twisted or squeezed the genitals of the Welsh player and he did not accept that it warranted a red card.

The disciplinary committee, which comprised David Hurley (Ireland), Sarah Smith (Scotland) and Stefan Terblanche (South Africa), heard evidence and submissions from Marler and his legal counsel, Richard Smith respectively (as well as from Six Nations’ legal representative). 

It was decided that Marler had committed an act of foul play (an infringement of law 9.27) and that it had warranted a red card, so the citing complaint was upheld.

The disciplinary committee determined that the act of foul play warranted a low-end entry point (twelve weeks) and reduced that by three weeks to take account of mitigating factors (including good character and remorse). 

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However, they then increased it by one week to take account of Marler’s most recent disciplinary record, leaving him suspended for ten weeks.

Given his current playing schedule, he is free to resume playing on Monday, June 8.

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J
JW 41 minutes ago
'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

it made referee Andre Piardi and his officiating crew the topic of the rugby debate, rather than its natural mediators.

I’ve not seen any talk about the refs, just debate on what the ruling should be. RP is a fairly closed off work, which I guess I’m thankful for.

It was also an unwelcome repetition of the last British & Irish Lions tour in 2021, where Australian Nic Berry was pilloried by Springboks head coach ‘Rassie’ Erasmus after refereeing decisions in the first Test did not flow in South Africa’s favour.

It’s not really like that. It’s much more similar to 2017s reversal of the series deciding penalty, when Steven Hansen said they’d be taking matters behind doors, directly to World Rugby.

Two months before the Rugby World Cup in France began, UEFA head of referees Roberto Rosetti had led a PowerPoint presentation with one single message: “We need referees.”

Yeah WR really need to up their game, theyve done nothing about it since they made the head sacrosanct, and I suppose ‘force’ being so much more important to the equation, and yet still so open to judgement.

The Wallabies had established a very healthy 23-5 lead after half an hour, and that should have been enough for them to coast home

This is a poor attitude and looked like what was their problem (although drastic or obvious a failing, or attitude, by aussie, i think it was there).


I said in your first article that if Len feels out of position Joseph should just come into 12. Very simple solution and solves the problem of him not getting his hands on the ball all that much.


Worst selection for me was Ben Donaldson, having him on the bench in the weekend cost them the game (most amongst many factors). Everyone hard done by not having a decider this weekend.

18 Go to comments
J
Jfp123 50 minutes ago
New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

I don’t think Dupont and Ntamack would have toured, if fit. Stade Toulousain seems not to be quite so hard on players as UBB, but if AD and RN had been fit they’d have played more minutes and would still have needed a rest and recovery period.


Of course I like to see France win, but I don’t want to see players wrecked by overwork.


I don’t get frustrated. I love seeing the top stars, but I also enjoy seeing the up and coming stars of the future who stand in for them, and I don’t want to see any player broken by overwork. It’s often possible to predict roughly which players will play in which games, if someone is bothered. For example, if you want to be sure of seeing all the top Stade Toulousain stars, go to their Champions cup matches, but actually, their team is pretty stellar in every match as they’ve got such an amazing squad.


The Top14, plus Champions Cup plus internationals, is a very heavy workload, and there are knock out stages of both the Top14 and Champions Cup, just before the summer test window, and these matches can be of international standard - eg, 2023 Champions Cup final Toulouse v Leinster (ie more or less Ireland). There is a limit to what players can do. Super Rugby players don’t have such a heavy workload, so playing stars in every match is not such a problem.


The knock out stages and relegation are part of what makes the Top14 so brilliant. Practically every team has something at stake all season, whether it’s making the top 2 to go straight to the semis, the top 6 to get into the finals, or avoiding the bottom 2 to avoid relegation. Organise the Top14 like football, and Stade Toulousain would have been crowned champions way before the end of the season and there would have been a lot of dead games without much at stake.

145 Go to comments
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