Northampton have responded bitterly to Chris Ashton’s 13-match ban for biting their prop Alex Waller, upset the Saracens wing was allowed to remain on the field throughout last Saturday’s match. Saints believe the incident should have been referred immediately to the television match official and say the failure to do so cost them a potential victory.
While Ashton and Saracens are still awaiting the full written verdict before deciding whether to appeal, the Saints captain, Tom Wood, and assistant coach, Alan Dickens, have both expressed dismay at the lack of immediate action after Waller showed the referee a bite-mark on a forearm. Saints were later reduced to 14 men when a frustrated Waller was penalised for an illegal tackle which swung the game decisively towards Saracens.
“It’s a shame from our point of view that nothing was done at the time because it might have changed the course of the game,” said Wood, a former team-mate of Ashton’s. “It is frustrating that what was clearly a red card, a 13-week ban, wasn’t policed on the day and Alex gets a yellow for a marginal tackle. Unless you can trust the officials to police it at the time, you’re always going to run the risk of reacting. I hate the whole disciplinary procedure, I don’t understand it. There’s a lack of consistency across the board. With something as significant as a bite, with evidence and a TMO, you’d have thought that would be dealt with.”
Sympathy for Ashton is in short supply at his former club, with Wood suggesting he was “not overly” surprised the controversy-prone wing had hit the headlines again. “He gets himself into some trouble and from that point of view I am not overly surprised that it is him who is in a spot of bother. I am surprised and shocked that anyone bites anyone in the modern game. There is not a place in the game for biting and I am amazed it has happened. I know they [Ashton and Waller] are mates so I don’t know if there was anything more to it.”
Dickens feels equally strongly that Northampton were “let down” by the officiating of the whole Ashton incident. “He has got to come to terms with not playing for 13 weeks – it could have been longer – but Saracens are now still able to pick a British Lions winger, Sean Maitland, and they had 15 men [for the whole game]. Alex Waller told the ref he had just been bitten and before the end of the game it was all over social media … they would have had 55 minutes playing with 14 men.”
Dickens also argues that potentially serious acts of foul play need to be punished immediately to preserve the game’s values. “I have got four boys at home and they were asking me if was OK to bite. For us not to consider [the TMO] looking at that – I don’t understand.” The Northampton centre Luther Burrell, meanwhile, was described by Dickens as “nowhere near” returning to the fray following the concussion he suffered late in last weekend’s game. The England captain Dylan Hartley, however, may be available for this Saturday’s home league game against Wasps.
