Chris Ashton’s 13-week ban all but ends his international career

When the Newcastle United defender John Bailey first saw Paul Gascoigne training at the club he made a prediction: "He will either be one of the greats or finish up at 40, bitter about wasting such talent."

As the Saracens wing Chris Ashton starts his second long suspension of the year, one which has all but extinguished the flickering flame of his international career, he can reflect on a career that is burning itself out by the strength of its own heat.

Gascoigne, a national hero after his exploits, and tears, at the 1990 World Cup, self-destructed in the following year’s FA Cup final between Tottenham and Nottingham Forest when, after making the second of two high, wild tackles in the opening 15 minutes, he damaged knee ligaments that kept him out of action for 16 months. “He only has himself to blame,” said the presenter Des Lynam.

Finished

Ashton may not have Gascoigne’s innate talent, but he shares the footballer’s childlike enthusiasm for his sport, his relish for being the centre of attention and the exuberant way he celebrates scoring; he is one of the best finishers around but finished may be the word after the biting charges he had to answer at a disciplinary hearing this week and the ensuing 13-week suspension which means he will have spent six months of 2016 serving a ban.

The wing was banned for 10 weeks last January for putting his hand near the eye of the Ulster centre Luke Marshall. If it seemed a disproportionate punishment – the offence was bracketed alongside eye-gouging rather than coming under a dangerous tackle – there had been a drive by World Rugby to deter players from wrapping a hand around the face of an opponent. A long suspension was the chosen weapon.

Now, subject to appeal, he faces an even longer break. Saracens stood by their player before Tuesday night's hearing, although the image of Ashton seeming to bite the hand of Alex Waller did not square with the contention the player was being victimised by citing officers. The club is entitled to check the wording of Ashton's contract to see whether a conduct clause had been breached, but it will stand by a player who struggles to control the almost nuclear energy he generates going into a game.

The bite on Waller was a petulant response to an act the wing had himself committed on the same ground eight months before and, as with Luis Suarez when he received a four-month ban from all football for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup, there was no mitigating factor. Guardian Service