A rather surreal moment took place on BT Sport last week that involved England and Saracens winger Chris Ashton analysing the eye-gouge which saw him handed a 10-week ban.
While the length of the ban was seen as harsh by many, the incident in question was completely reckless and endangered Ulster centre Luke Marshall as Aston pulled him to the ground by his face, making contact with his eyes in the process.
For some reason, BT Sport asked Chris Aston to talk them through the incident, and describe what the process of a hearing involved, and the England international claimed that he was shocked at the severity of the punishment for what he deemed an accident, and explained that the incident happened so fast that he didn't know he was pulling Marshall down by his face:
It's too fast, in my eyes, to even realise you've got someone by the face.
Maybe he shouldn't have his hands anywhere near Luke Marshall's face.
.@Saracens' @ChrisAshton1 tells @btsport of his "shock" at being handed 10-week ban for eye-gouging. #AvivaPrem https://t.co/KV0dYZNeJs
— BT Sport Rugby (@btsportrugby) February 7, 2016
Has a banned player ever analysed his own incident like that before? And the framing of Craig Doyle's questions made it look like an attempt to paint Chris Aston as a victim.
A very strange moment on BT Sports.
