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Exeter confirm that banned Dave Ewers was due for England summer series call-up
By Liam Heagney
It has emerged that the four-game ban handed down to Exeter back-rower Dave Ewers last Wednesday following a disciplinary hearing has cost the uncapped forward a rare call-up by England for their summer series fixtures.
When the ban was originally given, it was thought that it would result in Ewers missing Exeter matches at the start of next season as his club had just the possibility of two games remaining this season, this Saturday's Gallagher Premiership semi-final versus Sale and potentially the following week's final if the Chiefs qualified.
However, an update has now been applied to the sanction regarding Ewers on the disciplinary section of the RFU website. It read: "Exeter Chiefs have provided evidence to the RFU and the panel that the player would have been selected for England's summer series.
"The dates of suspension are therefore amended as follows: June 19 - Premiership semi-final; June 26 - Premiership final or June 27 - vs Scotland A for England A; July 4 - England vs the USA; July 10: England vs Canada."
A Premiership player of the year nominee whose impressive form this season ensured he featured on the six-strong shortlist for an award ultimately won by Sam Simmonds, Ewers had previously been involved years ago at England Saxons level but the uncapped Harare-born player hadn't figured into the Test fold under Eddie Jones since spring 2016
Ewers was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Sale's Simon Hammersley's in last Saturday round 22 match at Sandy Park and was subsequently cited by commissioner Paul Hull, who felt the tackle met the red card threshold. That opinion of Hull's was upheld at the resulting disciplinary hearing and it has led to Ewers missing out on Exeter's Premiership title bid and an England call-up.
Fellow Exeter forward Sam Skinner was also banned for four games for his red card in the same match versus Sale, a sanction that covers the conclusion to the Chiefs season and Scotland's summer series of internationals.
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Latest Comments
No because if it was a 1:1 correspondence it would have been 10 top14, 3 URC and 3 Prem. I did arbitrarily put a max limit per league at 8 because for me if half of the teams are from the top14 it will make no sense. I genuinely didn't think the discussion will go that way tbh as for me it is a details.
Go to commentsFoster should never have been appointed, and I never liked him as a coach, but the hysteria over his coaching and Sam Cane as a player was grounded in prejudice rather than fact.
The New Zealand Rugby public were blinded by their dislike of Foster to the point of idiocy.
Anything the All Blacks did that was good was attributed to Ryan and Schmidt and Fozzie had nothing to do with it.
Any losses were solely blamed on Foster and Cane.
Foster did develop new talent and kept all the main trophies except the World Cup.
His successor kept the core of his team as well as picking Cane despite him leaving for overseas because he saw the irreplaceable value in him.
Razor will take the ABs to the next level, I have full confidence in that.
He should have been appointed in 2020.
But he wasn’t. And the guy who was has never been treated fairly.
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