(Reuters) – Harlequins and England prop Joe Marler has apologised for insulting an opponent’s mother but said that kind of sledging is “the norm” in rugby.
Marler was handed a two-week ban for comments made to Bristol Bears’ Jake Heenan as well as an additional four-week ban suspended until the end of the 2023/24 season.
“I’m really sorry to Jake Heenan and his family, the guy I insulted or tried to insult. Also to my team mates and to the club, because they must really now be at a point where they’re like, ‘Here we go again,'” Marler said on his podcast.
“I’m much better at that when it comes to a bit of chat or a bit of sledging,” he added. “Usually, stuff like this is said. This is the norm.”
Marler said his wife Daisy had called him an “idiot” and a “moron”, adding that she was furious when she heard Heenan’s mother was in the hospital.
Marler has a chequered disciplinary history.
In 2016 he called Wales prop Samson Lee “gypsy boy” and in 2020 he was hit with a 10-week ban for grabbing the testicles of another Wales player Alun Wyn Jones.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
