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England No.8 Hughes handed maximum ban after Twitter outburst
By Alex Fisher
Nathan Hughes will miss three of England's four November internationals after being banned for six weeks for punching Lewis Ludlow during Wasps' Premiership clash with Gloucester.
Hughes appeared before an independent disciplinary panel on October 10 but the extent of his punishment was delayed due to an outburst on Twitter.
The forward pleaded guilty to the charge of striking an opponent at the initial hearing, and that would have brought a "mid-range" sanction of four weeks.
However, the 27-year-old took to Twitter after the hearing was adjourned, posting "what a joke".
That broke an agreement to stay off social media, something that Wasps had also made clear to the England international, and at the reconvened meeting Hughes admitted he had only pleaded guilty on legal advice.
Any goodwill towards Hughes for his original plea was wiped from the record and he was handed the maximum six-week ban.
The sanction means Eddie Jones will be without Hughes – who has 17 caps – for the matches against South Africa, New Zealand and Japan at Twickenham, having already lost several key men to injury.
Hughes will be cleared to play again from November 20, meaning he could feature in England's final match of 2018 against Australia.
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Latest Comments
I didn't mean to sound down on Dmac. Just looking hard at the bench sub's role of providing impact. I don't think he can do that at 15, and the bench is not really about injury cover anymore (you need to maximise it's use more than that).
He's my first choice of any New Zealander for the 10 jersey with the All Blacks.
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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