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.
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."
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.
The incident is likely to be looked at by the match citing commissioner, which could leave Marler in disciplinary trouble.
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.
"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.
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Was excited for an Italy piece, but it was more an English one. Like your effort in turning it into one though so here goes "it might be a 95% named team but are they gonna have 95% (more like 70) commitment need to get this one in the bag? I'm not so sure. Slipping below 80 has been this teams achilles heel", hows that, ABs in a tight one.
There's also one in the NH JWH, and it certainly wasn't Italy!
Go to commentsHaha I know I know! Don't worry, I have a plan to save them!
Here's a hint at it, the Highlanders actually become the SI team in my model!
Yeah, agreed. I think they can make 1 neighbour work cost effectively though, but yea, how does that equate to how a comp like that would work right.
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