Six Nations: Chris Ashton’s England return at risk after Saracens citing

Chris Ashton, the England wing recalled to national colours last week by the new head coach, Eddie Jones, after a long and frustrating spell on the red-rose margins, will find himself watching the Six Nations Championship rather than playing in it if he is found guilty of gouging when he appears at a disciplinary hearing in London tomorrow.

Ashton has been accused of “making contact with the eye and/or eye area” of the Ulster centre Luke Marshall during Saracens’ impressive bonus-point victory at Allianz Park on Saturday – a win that guaranteed them a home draw in the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup. The complaint was made by the French citing officer Yves Thieffine, whose countryman, the independent judicial officer Jean-Noel Couraud, has been appointed to hear the case.

There can be no mistaking the seriousness of the allegation: gouging is considered to be one of the union code’s deadliest sins, a view reflected by the recommended punishments laid down by World Rugby, the supreme governing body. Even at the lowest end, the minimum ban is 12 weeks – a suspension that would prevent Ashton playing in any of the forthcoming tournament matches. The maximum stretch for a “top end” offence is four years.

Strong representations are certain to be made on Ashton’s behalf and even if it is shown that contact was made, Couraud may decide it was accidental. But this is an alarming development for the 28-year-old player from Wigan, whose special skills as a finisher are just beginning to be underpinned by an improvement in defensive reliability.

Some of the biggest names in the game have been banned for gouging in recent seasons, including Dylan Hartley, the England hooker and current favourite for the red-rose captaincy. Hartley was suspended for 26 weeks in 2007 and missed that year’s World Cup as a consequence. Other notorious cases involved the All Black prop Richard Loe, the Springbok flanker Schalk Burger and the France Test prop David Attoub, who picked up a 70-week sentence.

Champions Cup officials announced a number of other citings that pretty much covered the waterfront in terms of rugby’s crimes and misdemeanours. The Clermont Auvergne flanker Viktor Kolelishvili stands accused of pushing the English referee Wayne Barnes during the match with Ospreys in Swansea; the Glasgow back-rower Ryan Wilson is alleged to have grabbed the testicles of the Northampton scrum-half Lee Dickson – an offence commonly known as “bag-snatching”; and the Newport-Gwent Dragons hooker T Rhys Thomas must answer a charge of biting the Castres forward Thomas Caballero. More prosaically, a second Glasgow player, the lock Tim Swinson, is up for punching during the match at Franklin’s Gardens.

Meanwhile, the Wales coach, Warren Gatland, will name his Six Nations party today, with the uncapped Scarlets scrum-half Aled Davies tipped to break into a squad certain to be missing the Lions full-back Leigh Halfpenny, the centre Scott Williams and the first-choice No 9 Rhys Webb, all of whom are on the long-term injury list.