England prop Joe Marler says he is confused as to why Kyle Sinckler was the only one cited after the volatile second Test between the British & Irish Lions and Springboks in Cape Town.
Sinckler allegedly bit Franco Mostert in the second half of the game and will attend an independent disciplinary hearing after he was cited by Scott Nowland (Australia) for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.12 (biting).
But the sole citing of Sinckler surprised many considering there were serious question marks over an incident where it appeared Stuart Hogg may have also been guilty of biting Bok Willie le Roux, while Cheslin Kolbe, Maro Itoje and Faf de Klerk were all involved in controversial incidents in an encounter to be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Itoje knelt on the neck of Damian de Allende, Kolbe was rather fortunate to only receive a yellow card for playing Conor Murray in the air and De Klerk escaped sanction for a high, no-arms hit on Murray.
Watch: Itoje kneels on De Allende’s neck
Marler says he is confused why Sinckler was singled out when so many of the other transgressions were more clear-cut.
“I just can’t believe that is the only thing that has come out of this game,” Marler said on talkSPORT.
“I know my citings; it is crazy, no one even knew about that one! Unless you are really looking out for some of the darker arts in it, you’re not seeing that.
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“There were so many; there was Kolbe’s with the challenge in the air, there were so many other things and it’s just been throughout the whole series of some sort of headline here and some sort of headline there.
“I guess part of that, the reason why there have been so many headlines, is because a lot of the rugby hasn’t really been doing a huge amount of the talking.”
ALSO WATCH: Did Hogg bite Le Roux?
Photo: Archive
