Originally Posted by Michael_Vaughan:
“Well it's finally over with and he's rightly been disciplined. Despite social media trying to hijack it as an England v Wales issue. If the RFU had dealt with it properly in the week following the incident then it wouldn't have go this far. The RFU and from the Wales perspective Gatland also deserve reprimands for spouting their opinions on the matter to the media.
A decent precedent is set but it is still a shame Harlequins will be the ones without him for a two games. England were good enough to win the Slam without him and he shouldn't have appeared in Paris.”
Originally Posted by Kierenj:
“My only issue with it is the consistency.
Calling someone a "faggot" is no ban and a 5000 fine, calling someone "gypsy boy" is 2 week ban and 20000 fine.
I'm just thankful it's over. The furor over it was embarrassing, more so in that Lee himself wasn't bothered and has been said before it is his actual nickname in the squad (which makes it more farcical).
At least Marler was paid 15000 for playing in the France game (which he would have been banned for) which covers 3/4 of the fine, and he can console himself with being a grand slam winner.”
I hope this is all over, but fear it won't be. If not calls for the ban to be longer, more just the need to carry on reporting on the story ("X reacts to Marler", "Y what the Marler bans says about modern rugby" etc etc).
I understand the principle that Marler should have received a greater punishment than what was effectively a verbal warning. The 6N committee did themselves no favours by saying "yes he's guilty of code breach, but we're not gonna sanction him.". For all the flak RFU are getting, they probably felt (no quite rightly) that they couldn't charge him for the same offence twice. Hence they stated the matter was closed.
World Rugby on the other can seemingly do whatever they like. My only concern is whether this means that they will intervene whenever there is a big enough outcry in relation to punishments that are or aren't given. Kruis and Wilson have just found not guilty of biting and contact with face area respectively, but there is footage showing them doing that. Yet weeks early both Ashton & Francis have been found guilty of Wilson's charge, with barely any difference between the three incidents. Does World Rugby not think that deserves looking at or is just because Marler was found guilty and not punished that they got involved?
Anyway here's hoping rugby can move on and we can get back to matter on the field.