Former England and Harlequins winger Ugo Monye believes that former team-mate Joe Marler could hang up his international boots again following his latest controversy against Wales.
England may have finished with 13-men on the pitch and narrowly defeated Wales 33-30 on Saturday, but it could have been a completely different story had officials taken action against Marler earlier in the game.
The prop, who went on to play a huge role in a dominant England scrum, appeared to grab Welsh captain Alun Wyn Jones’ testicles in the early stages as tempers blew over the edge and Monye thinks that a ban will follow which could cause Marler to retire.
“The sad thing for me is that we have had another good weekend of Six Nations rugby and we are talking about some of the incidents in the game rather than actually some of the rugby. Maybe I am part of the problem talking about it, but everyone is talking about it because they want to make sense of it. It’s a shame. For Joe Marler if that is your last game in an England shirt – if that is the last time you ever play at Twickenham – and I think there is every likelihood it could be, that is the sad thing for me. It totally split opinion with two extremes. People think he is a cult hero and hashtag “ Joe never change” and applaud it as a bit of fun while the others say he should be hung drawn and quartered. There is no middle ground or nuance with these things anymore. You see these things and you either have to be outraged and if you are not then I am outraged that you are not outraged – it is ridiculous and there has to be a middle ground,” he said while speaking on the BBC Rugby Union Weekly Podcast.
Marler has a long history of disciplinary action against him and his actions on Saturday usually receive a ban of between 12 and 24 weeks, but with his previous record it could be longer if found guilty.
If he does choose to retire it would be the second time he has done so at test-level after he came back last year in order to help England during the Rugby World Cup in Japan, but this time around would be tainted by the reasons behind it.
