Dylan Hartley
England captain Dylan Hartley will be available for their opening fixture of the Six Nations against France after receiving a six-week ban for striking.
The 30-year-old caught flanker Sean O’Brien with a swinging arm during Northampton Saints’ Champions Cup loss to Leinster on Friday and received the third red card of his career.
He has now been suspended for a total of 60 weeks.
Hartley, who pleaded guilty to the charge at an independent disciplinary hearing in London on Wednesday, is able to play again from 23 January.
| Hartley’s rap sheet | |
|---|---|
| April 2007 – 26 weeks for eye gouging | December 2014 – three weeks for elbowing |
| March 2012 – eight weeks for biting | May 2015 – four weeks for headbutting |
| December 2012 – two weeks for punching | December 2016 – six weeks for striking |
| May 2013 – 11 weeks for swearing at a referee | Total = 60 weeks |
Hartley had only been on the pitch for six minutes after coming on as a replacement when he was dismissed.
“In trying to help the team he got a little bit carried away. It’s disappointing, but we’ve got to move on,” Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder told BBC Radio Northampton before the ban was announced.
Hartley was dropped from last year’s Rugby World Cup squad after he headbutted Saracens’ Jamie George, but was recalled by Eddie Jones after the Australian had replaced Stuart Lancaster as England head coach.
The hooker went on to lead the side to a Six Nations Grand Slam and 13 consecutive Test match victories this year.
Speaking on Tuesday, Rugby Football Union boss Ian Ritchie said the forward should continue as England captain, despite his latest misdemeanour.
British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland would not be drawn on whether Hartley’s disciplinary record would affect his chances of leading the 2017 tour in New Zealand.
“It’s about picking the squad first and looking afterwards… who can do a good job and in terms of captaincy,” said Gatland on Tuesday.
| Fixtures Hartley will miss |
|---|
| Leinster (a), 17 December, Champions Cup |
| Sale (h), 23 December, Premiership |
| Gloucester (a), 1 January, Premiership |
| Bristol (h), 7 January, Premiership |
| Castres (h), (date tbc) January, Champions Cup |
| Montpellier (a), (date tbc) January, Champions Cup |
Hartley said he had “learned from his lessons” when he was named as captain for the Six Nations in January.
“I play my best when I’m on the edge,” he said back then, “I just know to not go over the edge.”
bbc
Footage of the incident:
Video at the end shows it all, what are the thoughts on this, was the ban long enough/too long?
@ Bullscot:
Extremely reckless Bully.
Given his record to date ……………………………He may be getting off a little lightly.
Having said that, I don’t think he was acting with malicious intent. Just bad judgement.
His rap sheet of “crimes against humanity” include,……………………..biting, elbowing, head butting and eye gouging. These are not bad judgement. Just plain thuggery.
This Guy right up there with Bakkies and a half dozen Froggs as ………………………as ……….well you know what I mean.
@ cane:
Hi cane thanks for the feedback, thought it was pretty stupid from him, think you are kinder than I seeing it as reckless, maybe it was just a daft impulsive thing but considering the prone position O’Brien was in facing the other and not seeing it coming and being able to take evasive action I thought it was cowardly thuggery. Couldn’t believe reading elsewhere someone suggested he may have been swinging his arm in attempt to dislodge the ball and another train of thought was it was a bit unlucky as O’Brien dipped prior or just before the contact but if you look at the replay he lowered a bit because he was being tackled so it was necessarily a voluntary dipping on his part.
If you look at that table of offences and sentences it is interesting to me that apart from the eye gouging the next longest sentence he got was for swearing at a ref. I fully agree the refs need to be looked after but he got more for that than each of the other offences – biting, punching, elbowing, head butting. At least Lancaster took a stand and didn’t select him for England after the headbutt, let’s see how the current coaching staff at England treat him after yet another offence as his ban ends a few weeks before the 6 Nations…
Actually looking at that clip, I tend to agree with Bully, in that it was not “that” accidental.
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