Joe Marler Responds To Ball Grabbing Incident As He Awaits Punishment

England rugby union star Joe Marler faces a 12 week ban after he grabbed Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones by the testicles during the Six Nations game on Saturday.

Marler was involved in the incident in the eighth minute when there was a coming together of both teams and the prop was seen to grab Jones in a sensitive area, with the Welshman looking particularly annoyed.

No action was taken at the time, despite the Wales lock looking towards the touch judge to point out the incident, but Marler has now been pulled up by the citing officer, along with fellow forward Courtney Lawes.

The entry point punishment for such the incident is a 12 week ban, which can be reduced with mitigating circumstances, and the fact that the Harlequins front-rower wasn't trying to cause harm is likely to mean that any ban won't be for much longer than the minimum 12 weeks.

There has been lots of criticism towards Marler for the incident but clearly he wasn't having any of it, taking to Twitter to call it all 'Bollocks.'

The Welsh captain was less impressed though, calling for action to be taken, "It's interesting and what would you do in that situation?

"I have 138 caps for my country, but if I react I get a red card so it's tough. Hopefully World Rugby have a look at it.

"...I looked at the touch judge and he did not see what happened, which is fine. But there is a lot of footage that has been shown and a lot of supporters have seen what has happened.

"It is very frustrating that we talk a lot about TMOs and footage review but there does not seem to be a lot happening."

Marler's potential suspension might not even harm Eddie Jones' team at all. They aren't playing their final Six Nations game against Italy as the fixture has been postponed because of the spread of Coronavirus in Italy.

The whole rest of the tournament could be postponed until October because of the virus, and Marler is likely to be back by then.

It's the same for Manu Tuilagi who was sent off for his challenge late on, when he collided with George North's head with his shoulder.