The full disciplinary documents into Joe Marler reveal exactly what was said in the on-field exchange and subsequent hearing that has seen the prop banned.
They show Marler twice called Bristol Bears flanker Jake Heenan's mum a "whore", with the victim admitting he "lost his head" and went for Marler after the referee didn't intervene. Heenan's mother is currently in hospital with cancer.
Marler was handed a six-week ban for his comments, although four weeks of the ban have been suspended, meaning he will initially serve a two-week break from action. He accepted the charge of conduct prejudicial to the game.
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In a statement to the disciplinary panel, Heenan, who has not spoken publicly about what happened, said: "After being kicked on the ground by Joe Marler the ruck before the scrum, I told him to cut it out at the next scrum.
"After a few words he said 'you're mother is a whore'. I left it the first time, then he repeated it a second time to which I looked at [referee] Karl Dickson. Karl looked at me, looked away and shook his head.
"When I realised that he wasn't going to intervene I lost my head."
The hearing documents detail the exchange at a scrum during the Harlequins v Bristol match over the festive period. Audio has also emerged on social media showing what happened to spark a melee between the two sets of players.
The details are laid out as follows:
As the two teams begin to form for the scrum, Marler and Heenan are on the same side of the scrum, on the side nearest the referee. The two exchange comments, some of which can be heard.
Heenan: “Brother, you’re better than that, eh?”
Marler: “I’m not your brother.”
Heenan: inaudible
Marler: “I’m clearly not your brother am I.”
Heenan: “You’re better than that mate.”
Marler: “There’s no way I’m from the same mother as you mate, your mum’s a f***ing whore.”
Heenan does not react towards Marler at that stage.
Heenan speaks to the referee briefly; the referee nods his head to one side and says “let’s go boys”. In his written evidence to the Panel, the referee says “During the incident I was made aware of a comment potentially said by [Marler] to Heenan. I never actually heard the comment therefore couldn’t act on it.”
As the players in the scrum begin to bind, Bristol prop Yann Thomas leans towards Marler and says: “What the f**k did you just say to him?”
Marler responds: “I called his mum a whore.”
Thomas walks towards Marler. It is at that stage that Heenan took hold of the Marler’s shirt around the Marler's chest area. A fracas then ensues, with various players pushing, shoving and grabbing one another.
During the course of the fracas, Heenan can be heard referencing that his mother is currently unwell in hospital.
The audio of the incident
Marler told the hearing Heenan had since accepted his apology for over-stepping the mark. He admitted a "mum joke" was one of his go-to lines when "sledging or ribbing" opponents.
Marler said he did not consider his comments "verbal abuse". He said he had made that mistake back in 2016 when he verbally abused Samson Lee in a Six Nations match by calling him "Gypsy boy". He received a two-week ban and fine for that incident, which you can read about here.
He said that this occasion (with Heenan) was a poor, unimaginative attempt to ‘sledge’ another player, part of what Marler said was commonplace winding each other up that goes on. Marler accepted entirely that his actions were contrary to good sportsmanship but said that he did not think it was abuse, because it was not based on race, sexual orientation, ethnicity or the like.
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