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Joe Marler breaks silence on incident with Alun Wyn Jones
England prop Joe Marler has broken his silence on the Alun Wyn Jones incident in typically irreverent fashion on Twitter.
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Marler, who has a colourful disciplinary history, escaped sanction for the first-half incident during a melee that went unnoticed by the match officials.
The loosehead grabbed the Welsh skipper’s genitalia on camera in the opening minutes of the game and it was the talk of social media as a result.
Now he has addressed the matter on Twitter, posting: “B*****ks. Complete b******s.”
Bollocks. Complete bollocks.
— Joe Marler (@JoeMarler) March 8, 2020
The Marler incident has become something of a cause célèbre, with ITV Good Morning anchor Piers Morgan weighing in on the issue.
“There are now two types of people in the world – those who laughed at this Joe Marler incident, and those who think he should be arrested. I’m in the first category. Those in the second are f***ing exhausting.
https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1236625511750799361
We used to all laugh at this kind of thing… #TheWorldsGoneNuts pic.twitter.com/9mK4x9AkDw
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 8, 2020
The incident is likely to be looked at by the match citing commissioner, which could leave Marler in disciplinary trouble.
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World Rugby’s punishment for what they term “testicle grabbing or twisting or squeezing” ranges from a suspension of 12 weeks to 24 weeks or more.
“What would you do?” Jones said in a post-match media conference when asked about the incident.
“I’ve got 138 Tests for my country. If I react, I get a red card. It’s tough, isn’t it?
“Hopefully World Rugby have a look at it.
“Joe’s a good bloke, lots of things happen on a rugby field. It’s difficult as a captain these days because you can’t speak to a ref about anything, it feels.
“I look at the touch judge, obviously he didn’t see what happened and that’s fine.
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“There’s a lot of footage that has been shown, it seems like a lot of supporters saw what happened.
“It’s very frustrating that we talk a lot about TMOs and footage reviews, yet there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it happening.”
Jones was asked whether the incident should be taken lightly or treated as a more serious matter.
“I think it needs to be taken in the context of the game,” he said.
“But with regards to the judicial panel that rugby has surrounding each game, as players – removing myself and Joe from this and the game itself – that’s what we need to focus on.
“Not the incident or the individual.”
Jones added that he shook hands with Marler after the game.
Additional reporting AAP
WATCH: Wales coach Wayne Pivac and captain Alun Wyn Jones speak at a press conference following the team’s Guinness Six Nations match against England.
