Grand Slam preparations hindered by delay over Marler

England must finalise their team for the Grand Slam encounter against France without knowing if Joe Marler is available after the investigation into his verbal abuse of Wales' Samson Lee was extended into a fifth day.

Marler is currently available for the trip to Paris after escaping sanction for striking Lee’s front row colleague Rob Evans in the 25-21 RBS Six Nations victory at Twickenham.

While he accepted he had committed foul play and the citing was upheld, the disciplinary hearing found that it was not a red-card offence and so no punishment was issued.

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However, the prop remains under investigation for calling Lee “gypsy boy” in the same match with tournament organisers revealing that the outcome of the probe will not be announced until this morning.

England are due to name their starting XV for a match that could deliver a first Grand Slam for 13 years at 10am, but have been given no indication of the verdict on their first-choice loosehead and remain in the dark over his availability.

Verbal abuse of a player based on religion, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or otherwise carries an entry-point sanction of four weeks, so Marler is still likely to miss the Stade de France showdown.

“Everything is being finalised at the moment. A decision has yet to be made but we’re nearly there,” said a Six Nations spokesperson.

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Marler apologised to Lee at half-time after his remark was picked up on the microphone of referee Craig Joubert.

The 25-year-old was spoken to by Eddie Jones the following day with the head coach declaring the insult was “not in the spirit of the game” and he was reminded of his responsibilities as an England player.

Despite the admission of guilt that was made public on Sunday, a probe that reflects poorly on rugby’s judiciary on account of the length of time it is taking to reach a conclusion has been dragged into a fifth day. The ongoing delay will be deeply frustrating for England, whose preparations for the eagerly-awaited climax to the 2016 Six Nations have been disrupted by the uncertainty surrounding Marler.

The contingency plan if the Harlequin is prevented from playing is to promote Mako Vunipola into the starting XV with Matt Mullan filling the vacancy on the replacements bench.

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