Chris Ashton is at it again. The Englishman has been handed a 7-week ban following a red card in a pre-season friendly against Castres last Friday.
Will Greenwood once described Ashton as ‘a Marmite player’. That is being somewhat generous.
He is loved by supporters when he is scoring tries and his team is winning. So, right now, Saracens fans have little issue with the winger.
Everyone else, well…
2016 has seen Ashton fall badly afoul of the rugby authorities. However, let us take you back to the start of his rugby union career [he started as a league man] in 2008.
2008: Banned for an additional week for picking up three yellow cards in his first season.
May 2011: Got involved in shoving match with Manu Tuilagi and came out on the wrong side.
Both men were yellow carded.
August 2011: Picked up first yellow card on England duty against Ireland.
December 2011: Pulled Leicester’s Alesena Tuilagi into touch by the hair, sparking a brawl that got Tuilagi sent off. Subsequently banned for four weeks.
January 2012: Tweets about his intentions to leave Northampton Saints for Saracens after The Telegraph report on a training ground bust-up with director of rugby Jim Mallinder.
February 2012: Vows to curb his routine ‘Ash Splash’ swallow dive celebrations after scolding from then-England coach Stuart Lancaster.
During the previous year’s World Cup, he was criticised for cracking it out in a handy win over Georgia. “I don’t think it went down well with everyone that I did it with a dive,” he admitted.
October 2012: Banned for a week for a dangerous tackle on Saints winger Vasily Artemyev, which earned him a yellow card.
March 2013: Yellow-carded for high tackle on Harlequins flanker Maurie Fa’asavalu, his fifth sin-binning of the season. Picks up additional ban for disciplinary record.
April 2014: Sparks half-time shoving match after shouting ‘Push it!’ while Quins’ Nick Evans was taking a kick at goal.
April 2015: Gets away with no-arm tackle on Clermont’s Napolini Nalaga, which prevents a certain try.
January 2016: Gets a 10-week ban for a rough-house high tackle on Luke Marshall that involves him ‘making contact with the eye area’ of the Ulster centre.
April 2016: Heavily criticised for obstructing Bath’s Anthony Watson and shunting him towards airborne Saracens teammate Alex Goode. The fullback was poleaxed and Watson was sent off. No-one was happy.
England coach Eddie Jones said, “I didn’t like what Ashton did. I thought it was unsportsmanlike and that is something he needs to get out of his game.”
September 2016: On the receiving end of his longest ban in rugby yet. Out for 13 weeks after reacting badly to some aggressive play at the ruck by Waller. Ruled to have bitten
Does Ashton bite Waller? pic.twitter.com/EbVYjFlOBH
— RugbyInsideLine (@RugbyInsideLine) September 17, 2016
August 2018: Receives a red card on his return to English rugby following a tip tackle on Castres scrum-half Rory Kockott. Ashton was handed a 7-week ban as a result and is set to miss the start of the season.
https://twitter.com/Smallclone/status/1031189157547319296
Ashton is a supremely talented winger, who has scored 114 tries in 191 games for club(s) and country.
One hopes his thirties are less controversial.
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