Jim Mallinder-Saints are a clean club

[taz]

Felt this deserved a thread of its own as it will get lost in the other two seperate cases.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/ne...club-1-3676109


JIM MALLINDER has defended Dylan Hartley’s reputation and declared: “We are not a dirty club.”
On Tuesday Hartley was given an eight-week ban after being found guilty of biting Ireland’s Stephen Ferris and tonight Calum Clark will appear before an RFU disciplinary hearing charged with hyperextending Leicester hooker Rob Hawkins’ elbow.
Mallinder confirmed the club and Hartley are waiting for the written judgement, which should be released on Friday, before deciding whether to appeal the ban, which rules the Saints skipper out until the Premiership final on May 26.
And the Saints director of rugby hit back at suggestions the two citings have tarnished the club’s image.
“The Dylan Hartley incident was done on England duty,” said Mallinder “The Calum Clark incident has happened, but we are not the first club and we won’t be the last club to get cited. I do expect that he will get suspended for an amount of games.
“We are not a dirty club. The people who see us play the game know we are not. Our players do not go out to intentially hurt or damage other people. We play hard and we play physical, but we always try to play within the laws.”
Mallinder was at Hartley’s hearing and with the lowest entry point at 12 weeks the Six Nations panel reduced that to four due to mitigation.
It is understood Ferris admitted he had his finger inside Hartley’s mouth and the England hooker may well have gagged before biting to be released.
Hartley is disappointed to be banned, especially as he was bitten himself by Ulster’s Pedrie Wannenburg last season, who was not even cited for it.
And though Hartley was banned in 2007 for 26-weeks for gouging, he has cleaned up his act since then and is a very different player.
Mallinder added: “Dylan is a different character to the one who first arrived at the club to what he is now.
“He has developed and matured into a fine leader and captain, he is a role model on and off the field, for what he does around the town. He has changed and that incident is totally inconsistent with the character that Dylan is now.
“Over the last few years we have seen players target him on purpose and also coaches talking about him and trying to put pressure on him that way. He is a tough player, you can’t take that away from Dylan. Any hooker who plays international rugby has got to be tough playing in that front row. He plays hard and fair and is a good leader of the club.
“It is a disappointment he has been banned for eight weeks, but until we see the written judgement it would be unwise to say anything else.
“You have got to see what they say and then we will take appropriate action.”
The frustrating point for Mallinder is that despite being cited on international duty, Hartley will be free to play for England in South Africa in June and yet misses Saints’ Premiership run-in and potentially a semi-final.
Mallinder said: “Ultimately that is the case. In an ideal world for a club, when somebody gets banned in an international match then they miss X number of international matches. But that is not the way it happens and it is unfortunate for us at Northampton that we will not have him back for the next eight weeks.
“Dylan is naturally very disappointed again with the outcome. He was looking forward to competing in the final few weeks in the run-in and then of course going to South Africa with England. He has still got a chance to finish the season with us, but we are going to have to do the hard work without him.
“It is annoying to miss Dylan, but we look at a lot of our England players and we have not seen a lot of them this year.
“It is a World Cup year and that makes them special, so you don’t see them for the first couple of months and then the Six Nations takes them out. Plus we have had a number of our internationals injured and currently injured, so it is a frustrating time when those players are not available to play for the club.”

[plastic]

Not forgetting Ashton's girly hair pulling incident etc etc etc

Probably would have been wiser to shut up rather than draw attention to it.........

[munsterbouy]

Foot in mouth disease rears its ugly head again ........

[SD13]

Our players do not go out to intentially hurt or damage other people. We play hard and we play physical, but we always try to play within the laws.”
I beg to differ, the Callum Clark incident was disgusting. Honestly, if I saw my one of my own teammates do such a thing, even in retaliation, I'd haul them off the pitch and beat them alive myself. I understand Mallinder has to defend his players but.........

[NotreDameRFC]

they couldn't be more dirty even if Don King was head of the gardens.

[Cathal]

It's not like they have a lock who's know for off the ball/late shoulder charges either.

[Cougar Moon]

What is Ferris at if that Articke is true? If he has admitted that his Finger was in Hartleys's Mouth then Hartley was right to bite it, so why all the fuss with the Ref? I thonk not. Theres some bollix going on here. Why has he been banned at all then?

[mr chips]

Saints are a clean club?

GIFSoup

[NotreDameRFC]

cougar .... hartley has previous... he bit richardt Strauss finger in HC final......its a joke he got 8 weeks.... 4 weeks less than what is supposed to be minmum entry level ban for that offence....

[inglorious]

What is Ferris at if that Articke is true? If he has admitted that his Finger was in Hartleys's Mouth then Hartley was right to bite it, so why all the fuss with the Ref? I thonk not. Theres some bollix going on here. Why has he been banned at all then?

I think you might be right!

[the plastic paddy]

I thought it was made clear that ferris did not have his finger in hartley's mouth. Has a ruling been released?

[Hugged Rugger]

Can I just add my tuppence

[The Word Is Born]

Has a ruling been released?

I don't think the 6N publish the judgements. The RFU usually publish theirs within a day or so of the judgement.

[John Cooper Clarke]

......its a joke he got 8 weeks.... 4 weeks less than what is supposed to be minmum entry level ban for that offence....

Entry level is 12 weeks, plus potential extra weeks for aggravating factors, and less weeks for mitigating factors.

[Boo-boo]

Would you mind telling me how you could deny that your finger was in someones mouth but explain teeth marks and complain of being bitten?
A case of a bear that eats shoots and leaves.

[sewa]

Like many here I am a former Saints supporters club member and I am glad to hear they are not a dirty side

[taz]

Entry level is 12 weeks, plus potential extra weeks for aggravating factors, and less weeks for mitigating factors.

Mitigating factors=England Summer tour.

[Grandpasimpson]

When you have to issue a press release to say your club isnt dirty then your club is dirty. Of the current squad there is the hair pulling Ashton, the cheap shot specialist Lawes, the gouging part time cannibal Hartley and the elbow breaking Clarke, I'd say the decent Northampton folk I've met countless times over the past few years at our games are happy with the way their money is being spent!!

[FORWARD....]

When you have to issue a press release to say your club isnt dirty then your club is dirty. Of the current squad there is the hair pulling Ashton, the cheap shot specialist Lawes, the gouging part time cannibal Hartley and the elbow breaking Clarke, I'd say the decent Northampton folk I've met countless times over the past few years at our games are happy with the way their money is being spent!!

When you're explaining, you're losing. Wasn't Mallinder considered first in line for the English job-announced today- before the 41 phases? ROG has a lot to answer for

[the plastic paddy]

The footage has been kept off the BBC so far but would think that Travis Perkins, Saints sponsors would not be amused to be associated with such an act of thuggery were it to appear on the 6 o'clock news!!!

[RichardP]

Nixonesque to say the least - "I am not a crook!"

[Kevy-Wevz]

Mallinder is as disgusting as the players he's training. Frankly, Northampton and rugby will be better off when he's gone.

[Point]

Would you mind telling me how you could deny that your finger was in someones mouth but explain teeth marks and complain of being bitten?
A case of a bear that eats shoots and leaves.

A so-called professional player like him, who thinks it's a good idea to bite someone's finger during a match, suggests someone who has been horsing into the auld steroids or whatever makes him overly aggressive. At least we don't have that sort of player here.

[Cougar Moon]

According to Rowntree, via the beeb, Hartley is being considered as England Captain. If you read the transcript that The RFU released it becomes clear that being a potential England Captain is apparently mitigation in itself. Who the fcck do they think they are? They are also saying Ferris admitted his Finger was in Hartley's Mouth. The Lies, and egregious ones at that, are astonishing at this level. It's as though they do not even have to work hard at preparing a clever case anymore. They just turn up and say " hey i'm English gov doff yer cap mate" The problem with this, and other high profile cases we have puked up at over the Years, is that they almost licence thuggery when people are working hard to remove it from the Game. Garbage decisions like this helps to shape the type of Player that Lawes and Armitage have become, like Grewcock before them. Clearly England Rugby, and in particular some Northampton Players along with Mallinder, believe that trying to maim an opposition Player, and in the case of Clarke actually doing so, to be almost part and parcel of the Game. The IRFU cannot alter what is happening over The Irish Sea, but they can do something other than lying supine and accepting it if not for the benefit if our Players then for the Game in general. They would be aware of their possible actions open to them, the simplest one would be to question the decision openly and ask for it to be reconsidered.

[Liam2me]

Shocking excuse