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Joe Marler has deleted his Twitter account
By Ian Cameron
England prop Joe Marler has taken drastic action on Twitter after being handed a 10-week ban by a Six Nations disciplinary panel in Dublin.
Marler was found guilty of foul play, namely that he "grabbed, twisted or squeezed the genitals of Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones Welsh" in the first half of the match in last weekends Six Nations clash at Twickenham.
An independent disciplinary committee heard submissions from Marler at a meeting in Dublin and found he had committed foul play that warranted a red card.
The committee reduced a potential 12-week sanction by three weeks to take account of mitigating factors but then added a week because of Marler's most recent disciplinary record.
"Marler is therefore suspended for 10 weeks and, given his playing schedule, is free to resume playing on Monday, 8 June 2020," the RFU said in a statement.
The incident has been the talk of the rugby community since. Marler only public response to the debacle was to Tweet: 'B******. Absolute b*******'.
Now Marler has taken more drastic action, purging all the Tweets from his Twitter account and appearing to delete the account entirely. Visitors to his Twitter page will no Tweets and an empty page.
It is quite possible that his ironic Tweet about the incident was taken into account by the panel and Marler has seen fit to remove himself from the platform.
The loosehead has also been on the receiving end of a deluge of abuse arising from his on-field actions, which some critics have likened to assault.
Meanwhile teammate Manu Tuilagi, who was shown a red card late in the match for a dangerous tackle, will have to serve a four-week suspension.
The committee reduced Tuilagi's six-week suspension by two weeks to take account of mitigating factors, including good conduct and immediate remorse.
A citing complaint against England flanker Courtney Lawes, who was accused of a dangerous tackle on Jones, was not upheld because it had not warranted a red card.
additional reporting AP
WATCH: Press conference with Gregor Townsend after the Scotland head coach named his team to face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. #SixNations
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Latest Comments
Agreed. 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.
Go to commentsAs Naas would say... A win is a win.
It was not perfect and at times frustrating. All 3 tests were not the best by the Boks and they still found ways to win.
Rassie would have noted the sloppyness at times and silly mistakes. The 9's made amateur handling mistakes when clearing the rucks in all 3 tests.
Once the "stupid" mistakes are eliminated, this Bok team will be very very hard to beat.
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