Nathan Hughes in hot water over deleted Tweet that saw his citing panel 'suspended'

A tweet by Nathan Hughes - now deleted - has seen his RFU disciplinary panel suspended.

The Wasps number 8 appeared before an independent disciplinary panel yesterday, after he was cited by independent citing commissioner Andy Blyth following his side's match with Gloucester last weekend.

It is alleged he punched Gloucester's Lewis Ludlow contrary to Law 9.12. Ludlow was banned for four weeks for his part in the incident.

Independent panel chair Gareth Graham said: "The independent panel appointed to deal with this case will reconvene in not less than 7 days in order to deal with an issue that arose during the evening."

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"No judgment will be issued by the panel in this period and the panel direct that the player, Wasps Rugby and the RFU are to make no further comment until the case has concluded. The player remains suspended until the conclusion of the matter.”

It has now been revealed that the England Number 8 tweeted “What a joke” during the hearing, resulting in the suspension of the panel.

It is likely that Hughes will now spend significantly longer on the sidelines as a result of the Tweet.

However his new All Black teammate, the outspoken Lima Sopaoga, has been showing his support on social media. Sopoaga tweeted that "#freeNathanHughes" before writing that: "If Nathan Hughes swings an actual punch blokes are going to sleep mate"

Wasps do battle with Leinster in Dublin tomorrow, but they will have to do without the services of Hughes, Dan Robson and Joe Launchbury.

Wasps have hoisted Europe’s top honour twice in their history – most recently in 2007 – and they’ll be going up against defending Champions Leinster at the RDS Arena.

Leinster and Wasps have locked horns in the competition in recent years with their last meeting coming at the quarter-final stage in April 2017, the Irish province coming out on top.