21 October 2023 , 06:00
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England's Joe Marler has previously found himself in hot water for grabbing an opponent’s genitals, which resulted in a 10-week ban.
The Harlequins prop, who remains one of the country's biggest rugby personalities, looked inconspicuous as he got involved in a scrap during a Six Nations game between England and Wales in 2020. Whilst the players clashed, Marler walked up to Welsh legend Alun Wyn Jones and grabbed him between the legs.
Marler had to head to Dublin to face the music as he was handed a hefty ban which all but ended his season for club and country with the player not returning until June. Jones, whose Welsh side narrowly lost at Twickenham, called on there to be more light shone on such incidents.
He said: “Joe’s a good bloke. Lots of things happen on a rugby field. My question is, 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.
“But there’s a lot of footage that’s been shown, obviously. It seems there’s a lot of supporters that saw what happened. It’s just very frustrating, the fact that we talk a lot about TMOs (television match officials) and footage review but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it happening (during the game).”
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The incident and subsequent ban divided opinion with Marler's club and club team-mate Danny Care claiming Wales' loss blew it out of proportion as he claimed he'd "lost count of the number of people who have touched my genitals in a game of rugby.”
Joe Marler grabbed Wales' Alun Wyn Jones during a Six Nations clash which caused mass uproar (Sportsphoto LTD / Alamy Live News)An RFU statement at the time read: “The Disciplinary Committee found that the act of foul play warranted a low-end entry point (12 weeks’ suspension) and reduced that by three weeks to take account of mitigating factors (including good character and remorse) but increased it by one week to take account of his most recent disciplinary record."
Marler eventually spoke about his incident with Jones, confessing that what he did was wrong, but maintained there was no sexual assault committed despite the accusations, instead claiming he simply had a "brain fart".
He said: "We spoke when the huge storm was going off, then. I understood his position as a 140-odd capped international with some heavy gravitas in the game, the position he holds and the pressure he can sometimes be put under.
"What I did was inappropriate and wrong on that stage. The people that came out and compared it to sexual assault in the workplace completely blew my mind but I did stop for a second and take on their opinions and how they were made to feel about it all.
"They are completely entitled to their opinion and I respect that. However, I didn’t sexually assault someone in the workplace. I tickled someone's k***, as a laugh, who I'd known for several years now, on the wrong stage, really. I should have probably waited for there not to be cameras around but it was a bit of a brain fart."