Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones slammed the behaviour of Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley.
Hooker's temperament under question again
Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones slammed the behaviour of Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley following a high tackle on Moses Rauluni in Sarries' 33-19 EDF Energy Cup victory.
Hartley escaped with a lecture from the referee but Jones poured scorn on the dangerous play and questioned the player's temperament in the big-match arena.
"He took the head of the player away from the ball and it's a serious misdemeanour," Jones said.
"He has tended to have a reputation off the ball. We are certainly not happy with it.
"Discipline's exacerbated by the pressure of the game and, obviously, the last 10 minutes of today's game is every minute of a Test match.
"Every possession you get counts when you're playing against the top five so that would be the worry. He seems like a good kid, he can play a bit, but you don't want to see players doing those sort of things.
"If he's doing it in a club game like this then you'd worry about him in a Test match."
However, opposite number Jim Mallinder was quick to defend the player, who was suspended for six months for gouging the eye of Wasps' James Haskell two years ago.
"I had a quick look at it on the replay and didn't think it looked that bad actually," he said.
"He's aggressive but he's controlling himself and I think the referee probably made the right decision. It wasn't the best challenge and he got penalised for it."
