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'That literally changed my career... I sat there and cried in this room'
Chris Ashton says that a 10-week ban handed to him for allegedly gouging Ulster centre Luke Marshall ‘changed the direction of his career’.
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The former England winger denied that he gouged Marshall in an infamous incident in 2016 during a Heineken Champions Cup match between Saracens and Ulster at what was known then as Allianz Park.
The incident came just as Ashton was on the verge of breaking back into the England squad, which had just been taken over by new head coach Eddie Jones.
The eye gouge incident still haunts the Leicester Tigers winger, who recalled how he was left to defend himself in front of a disciplinary panel after being cited for the incident.
“At the end of 2015, Stuart [Lancaster] gets sacked and Eddie comes in,” Ashton told Jim Hamilton in a special Rugby Roots documentary for RugbyPass. “So I’m like ‘right, I’ve got a chance to get back in here’. We were going well at Saracens, I was doing well. Everything that Eddie was saying was positive.
“A week before the Six Nations starts in 2016, I got done for an eye gouge. That one literally changed my career. The direction of my career.
“I didn’t do it. I flat out didn’t do it. I can’t say that about all the bans.
“That one I did not do. My hands were on his face for 0.006 of a second. You don’t gouge someone like that.
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“I literally sat there and cried in this room.
“This is my opportunity to get back in [with England], you can’t take this away from me. You could see the disciplinary man shaking his head ‘Nah, not having it’. He didn’t have any interest.
“My England career is done here, if you don’t accept what I’m telling you is right. Nah, he didn’t want it. Ten weeks…TEN WEEKS!’
“And I spoke to Eddie [Jones] after it and he said “You’d have played mate, you’d have started.
“It was worse [for having been told that by Jones]. It was way worse.
“Again, it was another situation where people will say that was your own fault. You just have to take it as it is. I went back to type, trained as hard as I could.
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“England in 2016, soon as Eddie came in, went on to win the Grand Slam. I’m sat at home and I’m like ‘Man, where do I go from here?’ I reverted to what I know. I trained harder. Played well at Saracens, ‘your chance will come’.
“It never did. It never came.
“Because they were so successful, they just kept going and going and going.
“Eddie used to ring me. One of them, England were going on tour. I’d just got the man of the match in the semi-final, and I didn’t get in [to the England squad]. It doesn’t make any sense.
“He rang me and said that my defence percentage wasn’t high enough. It probably was, he’s probably right. At the time it didn’t feel right.
“I thought I should have been in there and I’d done enough to get my chance back. Once that was shut, my mind’s like ‘This is over here”. I’ve got to change.
“We’d been successful at Saracens, that’s all I ever wanted in England was to be a success and win trophies and I’d done that. The last thing was to play for England again and it was gone, the door was shut. It was clear to me that Eddie didn’t want me in there.”
Ashton would sign for Toulon. It would prove a masterstroke for the Wigan native, who went on to break the Top 14 try-scoring record in his first season.
“I was like ‘we have to change, and do something else’ and France was the next door that opened.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Bell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
13 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
13 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to comments