“He didn’t even deserve to be sent off!”

BT Sport pundits and former England internationals, Lawrence Dallaglio and Austin Healey believe the six-week ban handed down to Joe Marler was extremely harsh.

The two former players discussed the incident on BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight last night, and according to both of them, Marler shouldn’t have even been sent-off.

Dallaglio reckons Marler hit Sale’s TJ Ioan in the back of the shoulder, and not the head as the referee said on the day.

He leads with the shoulder to clear out Ioane but actually I think he hits him in the back of the shoulder and not in the head,” Dallaglio said.

Healey, meanwhile, reckons Ioane’s hairstyle made the incident look a lot worse than it really was.

“I’ve got a bit of a theory, I’m an expert in hair, and I think if that’s a skinhead being hit in the back as opposed to the big hair it doesn’t look anywhere near as bad….” Healey added.