England
Dylan Hartley has been banned for more than one year
AAP
January 25, 2016
Taylor: Hartley not the best hooker in England
Newly named England captain Dylan Hartley has a rare record of ill-discipline on the rugby pitch, with the hooker having missed 54 weeks in suspension for a wide range of offences. Those bans have seen him miss the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia and the Rugby World Cup in both 2007 and 2015. We take a look at his tale of the tape. Eye-gouging Hartley, then a 21-year-old, was handed a 26-week ban for eye-gouging two Wasps players in a premiership match in 2007. The suspension cost him a place in England's Rugby World Cup squad. Biting In 2012, Hartley was hit with an eight-week ban after he bit Ireland's Stephen Ferris during a Six Nations match. The incident was not seen at the time but Hartley was punished retrospectively. Punching Later the same year Hartley threw several punches while playing for Northampton against Ulster, landing one on rival hooker Rory Best that yielded a two-week ban. Swearing Hartley found himself in hot water for verbally abusing referee Wayne Barnes in the 2013 premiership final against Leicester. His 11-week ban came at a high cost, ruling him out of the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. Elbowing In another incident against Leicester, this time in 2014, Hartley was sent off for elbowing Matt Smith in the face; he received a three-week ban. Head-butting A head-butt on Saracens' Jamie George in the premiership semi-final proved to be the final straw for England coach Stuart Lancaster, who axed Hartley from his Rugby World Cup training squad. Hartley served a four-week ban for the offence. © AAP
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