Nathan Hughes is facing the prospect of being suspended for all of England’s autumn internationals campaign after he was cited for punching Lewis Ludlow in the head during Wasps’ defeat by Gloucester on Saturday.
Hughes’s absence would be a significant blow for Eddie Jones, whose options at No 8 have already been depleted by Sam Simmonds’s long‑term knee injury, and it would place even greater importance on the fitness of Billy Vunipola, who completed his first 80 minutes of the season last weekend.
Hughes faces a six-week ban if he is found guilty because contact with the head means an automatic mid-range sanction. That would rule him out of Wasps’ European double header, which starts at Leinster on Friday, as well as England’s first three November fixtures against South Africa, New Zealand and Japan.
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It could also mean he is unavailable to face Australia a week later if Wasps do not successfully argue at Hughes’s disciplinary hearing on Wednesday that their opening Premiership Rugby Cup fixture on 27 October should count towards any ban.
There is no precedent because this is the inaugural season of the Premiership Rugby Cup, which has replaced the Anglo-Welsh Cup. Twelve months ago, however, Wasps successfully argued that an Anglo-Welsh Cup match should count when Hughes was banned by the Champions Cup organisers for striking Marcus Smith but Harlequins failed to do so on behalf of Joe Marler for a separate incident in the same match. A subsequent appeal went in Marler’s favour.
Footage released by the RFU on Monday night shows Hughes connect with a punch to the left side of Ludlow’s head while he is being pinned on his back by the Gloucester flanker in the final minute of the match. If Hughes is found guilty any potential ban may also be reduced for mitigation but his ban for striking Smith will count against him. It would be a blow for England however, if he misses any of their autumn series, starting with the Springboks on 3 November. Ludlow has been cited for a stamp on Elliot Daly in a separate incident in Saturday’s match.
If Hughes is banned it would be a major setback for Wasps, who will already be without Dan Robson against Leinster. Robson will see a specialist on Wednesday but Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, conceded the outlook was bleak for his in-form scrum-half. “It looked nasty on the weekend,” Young said. “It did not look too clever – we expect it is a nasty injury, but fingers crossed it is not too nasty.”
Young is hopeful Joe Launchbury comes through training on Tuesday without any ill-effects to his knee injury but if not he is likely to require surgery, which would jeopardise his prospects of joining up with England later this month. “If there is no reaction we will plough ahead,” added Young. “If he doesn’t feel he’s in a position to train or doesn’t react well to it he will be sent back to the specialist.”