KYLE Sinckler’s two-match ban for swearing at referee Karl Dickson is bad news. It is not just detrimental for the player, but also the match official – not to mention England’s Six Nations chances against Scotland now that their first-choice tighthead has been ruled out of their opening match at Twickenham.

However, the incident could have a silver lining if it becomes a catalyst to arrest the deeper, damaging trend undermining the authority of the referee.
Sinckler’s, “are you f*cking serious?”, comment to Dickson, when the Bristol prop thought Exeter’s Luke Cowan-Dickie should have been...