A former Wales rugby international has accused "mouthy" Joe Marler of "cheap trash talk" after the England and Harlequins prop received a ban over comments made to Bristol flanker Jake Heenan.
Retired lock Andrew Coombs, who played 10 times for Wales while at Dragons, posted a series of tweets on Saturday after Marler was banned for six weeks — four of them suspended — for his behaviour during Quins' 15-12 Premiership defeat to Bristol.
Audio from Tuesday's match appeared to capture Marler, 32, making a crude remark about Heenan's mother, who is reportedly receiving hospital treatment for cancer. Merthyr-born Coombs, 38, shared the recording on Twitter and wrote: "P**s poor from Marler! I experienced this in Connaught when a player said ‘I f****d your mother last night’. Sadly she had passed a few years before that game. I’m all for men trying to intimidate each other through words, but this is cheap trash talk."
One rugby journalist suggested Coombs was showing "naivety" but he replied: "Rubbish James. Tell the guy you’re going to f**k him up or smash him fine. Bringing loved ones into it is cheap bulls***. Mouthy Marler at it again."
He added: "You never know the history of any players family or friends which is why you don’t go there." Another rugby fan defended Marler's comments by claiming Heenan had "kept calling him bro", but Coombs responded: "Brother, bro, mate, butt, pal. All terms used by everyone. Agree to disagree."
Coombs went on to comment: "Marler could just act like a real man and respond, call me brother again and I’ll break you in half. That’s my point. Cheap chat."
Marler attended a disciplinary hearing on Friday after being cited for conduct prejudicial to the game. He will serve a two-week ban but the remaining four weeks will not be imposed unless he commits a similar offence before the end of next season.
The prop apologised to Heenan on Twitter after the match at Twickenham Stoop. He has been ordered to give a presentation to a local club or school, and to a Premiership academy, on core values of the game.
"The player accepted that his conduct was prejudicial to the interests of the game," said Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel chairman Gareth Graham. "Rugby's core values are not empty words or slogans which can be signed up to and then ignored. They are integral to the game. The insulting and offensive comments made by the player were wholly inappropriate; such comments should form no part of the modern game."
Marler was banned in 2016 for two weeks and fined £20,000 for language used towards Wales prop Samson Lee. And in 2020 he was handed a 10-week suspension for grabbing Wales lock Alun Wyn Jones' genitals during a Six Nations game.
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