Chris Ashton is facing the prospect of being banned for the start of the new Premiership season after he was sent-off for fighting during Sale’s pre-season victory over Castres last Friday.
Ashton has a nervous wait to discover if he is cited by the Rugby Football Union, which is likely to make a decision on Monday, once the report of the referee Romain Poite has been considered. Video footage of the ill-tempered fixture against the Top 14 champions appears to show Ashton throw a punch at the Castres scrum-half Rory Kockott, who was also sent off for his part in the fracas.
Sale’s Romanian prop Alexandru Tarus was also shown a red card in a separate incident. Even though the match – which Sale won 20-17 – was a pre-season friendly, the same disciplinary process applies as if it were a competitive match.
A lengthy suspension would be a damaging blow to Ashton’s England hopes, having made the summer switch from Toulon to keep his World Cup dream alive. He won an immediate recall to Eddie Jones’s squad for a pre-season training camp earlier this month but his chances of being included in next month’s get-together would be put in jeopardy if he receives a ban.
Sale, meanwhile, will be desperately hoping their marquee summer signing is available to start their season away at Harlequins on 1 September.
If Ashton is cited he will face a disciplinary panel this week and his poor disciplinary record is likely to count against him, having served two lengthy bans in 2016. In January that year he was suspended for 10 weeks for making contact with the eye area of Ulster’s Luke Marshall and in September he was banned for 13 weeks for biting Northampton’s Alex Waller. Both those suspensions are a key part of the reason why Ashton has not played for England under Jones.
