Northampton and England hooker Dylan Hartley cited for headbutt
Wednesday 27 May 2015 22:51, UK
Northampton and England hooker Dylan Hartley will find out tonight if he will miss the World Cup.
Hartley has been cited for allegedly headbutting Jamie George of Saracens and, if found guilty, could miss this autumn's World Cup.
The 29-year-old Saints skipper, who has a long history of disciplinary problems, will appear before a panel on Wednesday night to have his case heard with a ban of between four and 12 weeks the potential punishment.
A statement on the RFU website said: "Dylan Hartley of Northampton Saints will appear before an RFU Disciplinary panel."
"Hartley was cited following the Premiership semi-final match between Northampton Saints and Saracens for striking an opponent with his head, contrary to Law 10.4(a)."
The three person panel will include Mike Hamlin and Tony Wheat and will be chaired by HHJ Sean Enright.
The front rower, who it is alleged struck opposite number George with his head during Saturday's 29-24 defeat to Sarries, was named in Stuart Lancaster's 50-man preliminary squad for the upcoming World Cup last week.
Lancaster has already discarded influential centre Manu Tuilagi from his squad for disciplinary reasons.
England kick off their World Cup campaign against Fiji at Twickenham on September 18.
Hartley has been criticised for his ill-discipline the past. He was handed a massive 26-week ban for eye-gouging in 2007, an 11-week suspension for verbally abusing the referee Wayne Barnes during the 2013 Premiership final against Leicester and a three-week ban for elbowing an opponent in December 2014.
