Hannibal Hartley.

England and Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley doesn’t exactly have the best of disciplinary records. In fact – it’s pretty abysmal.

The hooker’s most recent ban saw him spend six weeks on the sidelines for a strike on Ireland’s Sean O’Brien back in 2016, which brought his career total to a staggering 60 weeks.

And that’s not the only time he’s been banned because of an incident with an Irish player. He received two weeks for a punch on Rory Best back in 2012, and received eight weeks for a bite on Stephen Ferris the same year.

The Ferris incident was particularly nasty. Who the hell bites someone? Here’s the former Ulster flanker’s recount of it from his autobiography, via the lads over at Balls.ie

“In the middle of all the carnage, Dylan Hartley bites my finger. We have a ruck out wide. I tackle him to clear him out. My arm is draped over his shoulder as we hit the ground. He latches onto my finger and sinks his teeth in. I hop up – what the fuck? – and hit him a couple of slaps on the head ‘You dirty bastard’.

He denies it, in his New Zealand accent.

‘Yeah, whatever’.

That sums Hartley up. Roger Wilson who played with him, who played with him at Northampton, tells me he is a really good lad. I am sure he is a decent fella, but he is dirty on the pitch.”

And to make matters worse – six years have passed since that incident and Hartley still hasn’t apologised to Ferris. Speaking on BT Sport over the weekend, Ferris says he still holds a bit of “beef” with the England captain.

“You know Dylan Hartley, he didn’t come up to me and apologise after that game, so, I’m still holding a little bit of beef.” Ferris said

“Maybe it’ll come in the future eh?”

I wouldn’t hold by breath Stephen.