Maverick Marler goes into 'hiding'
REACTION: Maverick England prop Joe Marler has gone into hiding on social media.
The controversial player took the drastic action of closing down his account on Twitter, after being handed a 10-week ban by a Six Nations disciplinary panel in Dublin.
Marler was given a 10-week ban on Thursday for grabbing Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones by the testicles during a Six Nations match at Twickenham last weekend.
The ban threatens to sideline Marler for the remainder of the European season.
The ban cuts across all tournaments and Marler cannot resume playing again until June 8, although the Harlequins front row forward does have the right of appeal.
The incident has been the talk of the rugby community since.
Marler only public response to the debacle was to Tweet: ‘B******. Absolute b*******’.
Now Marler has taken more drastic action, purging all the Tweets from his Twitter account and appearing to delete the account entirely.
Visitors to his Twitter page will see no Tweets and an empty page.
It is quite possible that his ironic Tweet about the incident was taken into account by the panel and Marler has seen fit to remove himself from the platform.
The loosehead has also been on the receiving end of a deluge of abuse arising from his on-field actions, which some critics have likened to assault.
Following the match, veteran Wales lock Jones – who showed admirable restraint in not retaliating on the field – voiced his disappointment with the lack of punishment Marler received during the game.
“A lot of footage was shown, a lot of supporters have seen what happened, it’s just very frustrating,” said the Wales skipper.
“We talk a lot about the TMO (television match official) footage and review but not a lot’s happened.”
Sources: RugbyPass & AFP
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