England great Lawrence Dallaglio has hit out at Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones for the part he supposedly played in Joe Marler being slapped with a 10-week ban.
Marler was caught grabbing Wyn Jones’ genitals during England’s 33-30 Six Nations victory over Wales and an independent citing commissioner came down hard on the prop at a disciplinary hearing in Dublin last week.
England team-mate Manu Tuilagi also received a four-week ban at the hearing after being sent off for a tackle on George North, while Courtney Lawes escaped punishment for his hit on Wyn Jones at Twickenham.
Marler’s behaviour divided opinion among rugby fans, pundits and ex-players, with the likes of Mike Tindall, Gareth Thomas and Lewis Moody all playing down the seriousness of the incident.
However, Wyn Jones failed to see the funny side after the bad-tempered affair at Twickenham and called on World Rugby to investigate Marler’s actions.
Speaking on The Times’ The Ruck podcast, England legend Dallaglio said: ‘I don’t believe Alun Wyn helped him out at all to a certain degree. I was surprised by the post-match interview.
‘When someone as great as Alun Wyn Jones says something like that, it leads the disciplinary into behaving in a certain way.
‘It’s why I believe Joe ended up with 10 weeks as opposed to something a bit more around the five to six week mark but there you go.’
Dallaglio made it clear he was not defending Marler’s unsavoury behaviour but highlighted how Wyn Jones’ hardly covered himself in glory in the same fixture last year in Cardiff.
‘I don’t agree in any way what Joe did. What was acceptable 10, 15, 30 years ago is not acceptable in the modern age. Winding up takes a number of different guises,’ he added.
‘There’s no doubt a number of Welsh players wound up Kyle Sinckler last year down at The Principality Stadium and Alun Wyn Jones was one of them by the way. They did it in a way that pushes it right to the law, but not beyond the law.
‘What Joe did was unacceptable, he knows that, particularly when you’ve got a lot of previous in terms of your own disciplinary record.’
Mike Brown – Marler’s England and Harlequins team-mate – accused Wyn Jones of throwing the England loosehead under the bus with his post-match comments.
‘It was a silly mistake I’m not condoning but all it warranted was a slap on the wrist. Instead, he has been the victim of a witch-hunt and an equally ridiculous outcome,’ Brown said in his Daily Mail column.
‘What concerns me is that rugby seems to be guilty of double standards, with the sport treating certain people in certain ways.
‘If the roles were reversed between Marler and Jones, would there be all this hysteria? I’m not sure. Jones is pinned up like some kind of saint. He hounded Kyle Sinckler for the whole game last year with verbals and cheapshots but he was hailed as a genius. If I did that, all the Welsh fans would be calling me every name under the sun.
‘As soon as Jones made an issue out of the Marler incident in his press conference, it was inevitable the story would turn into a circus.
‘As soon as an incident starts generating headlines, World Rugby have to be seen to be doing something about it.’
He added: ‘By all accounts, Jones is an intelligent guy with a law degree. He must have known that by criticising the officials for not picking up on the incident it would turn up the heat on Marler.
‘They have been on Lions tours together so I was surprised by that.
‘There’s an unwritten rule that you don’t turn on another player unless they’ve done something beyond the pale.
‘Maybe I’m just too old-school?’
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