Young not happy with Haskell's yellow card
Wasps flank Haskell was yellow-carded after an off-the-ball altercation left Joe Marler on the ground during their 21-24 loss to the Harlequins.
Marler instigated the ugly tussle when the prop choked him with the strap of scrum cap and squirted him in the face with water.
However, referee Andrew Jackson along with his TMO David Rose reviewed the incident and admitted that Haskell was provoked however they stuck with the decision the sent Haskell to the sin bin while Marler's action went unpunished.
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young believes that Haskell’s yellow card was too extreme and has stated that the flank’s reaction was reasonable.
"When somebody rips your hat off and then squirts water in your face, there’s only one reaction you’re going to get," Young told the Wales Online.
"I just thought it was very harsh on James Haskell. There comes a time when you’ve got to look at the guys that spark these things up, not somebody that’s going to take exception to someone ripping their hat off and squirting water in their face.
"There was a lot going on, lots of yapping; I don’t think it helps the game, I don’t like that. We’ve all watched James play over the years, he doesn’t react to much.
"But you could see he was pretty annoyed and more annoyed for getting a yellow card for reacting. And, by the way, he didn’t throw a punch, he just grabbed the guy.
"He’s probably got better restraint than I would have had,"
"But [his yellow card was] not the reason we lost the game," he added.
This is not the first time the England prop Joe Marler was in the middle of controversy.
In 2016, he called Wales prop Samson Lee a 'gypsy' during the Six Nations, while in the European Challenge Cup he was suspended for booting Grenoble's Arnaud Heguy in the head.
Nonetheless, Harlequins director of rugby John Kingston defended Marler’s behaviour and claimed he did not see any of Haskell's claims.
"I didn’t see it, to be honest with you – it’s an Arsene Wenger moment, but I didn’t," said Kingston, adding: "All I saw was a skirmish on the floor,"
Source: WalesOnline
