Six Nations 2018: Joe Marler admits he must clean up his act or lose his England place after Eddie Jones warning

Joe Marler has admitted that he needs to clean up his act if he wants to remain an England international after receiving a stern telling off from Eddie Jones following his latest suspension.

The loosehead prop has already served eight weeks’ worth of bans this season – and still has one week left to go – due to his ill-discipline at club level, and in keeping a clean record on the international stage he has accepted that something mentally needs to change when he is playing for Harlequins.

Marler received a strong dressing down from Jones to leave him in little doubt about what he needs to do to get back in the head coach’s good books, and with the 27-year-old eligible to make his return for next Saturday’s Six Nations trip to Murrayfield to face Scotland, he knows he cannot afford to fall foul of the rules again.

“He was very stern and he made it very clear where I stand and what I need to do to keep in this team,” Marler said. “He is straight to the point, he is blunt, he is honest and you don’t want it any other way.

“I’ve been cited twice in the last six months and spent nine weeks on the sidelines. There was no real argument from me to go ‘actually Eddie, I disagree with you’ because I haven’t got a leg to stand on.

“International rugby, playing for your country, is that pressured environment. Any mistake you make or penalty you give away can have a huge repercussion. In a club game you can get away with a lot more, it’s a lot less pressured. It’s tougher than it used to be but as you said, I probably am a little bit fast and loose and try and get away with a bit much.

“It’s a challenge but that’s something that I’ve spent the last six weeks and previous three weeks thinking about.”

Marler is known for his tendency to rub opponents up the wrong way on the pitch and land himself in hot water. His latest indiscretion came when he hit Sale Sharks flanker TJ Ioanee with a shoulder charge as he moved away from a ruck, fewer than two minutes after he was on the end of a swinging arm to the head by the same player.

But knowing that he will be provoked is part of learning to cope with his disciplinary issues, and he is fully aware that he must learn to shut out any antagonistic factors during games as it could cost him his England place due to subsequent bans.

“It’s just the mindset of remembering when someone wants to rile me up, I’m more than capable of ignoring it and getting on with the next job as I’ve shown at international level, and remembering those moments as opposed to remembering someone elbowing me in the head and then two minutes later, here’s a chance to get my own back,” he said.

“That’s been happening for years. I’ve had that reputation for years and part of me relishes it a bit. At international level it helps me stay a little bit more focused because there’s a lot more to lose.”

Marler was called up to the squad at the start of the championship to help bolster numbers in training, with the Quins prop even sharing a room with James Haskell despite their coming together earlier in the season – “an experience in itself” according to Marler – with the pair quickly putting the saga behind them.

Both were in attendance for the last two days as England trained against Georgia in west London, with the pack sharpening up their scrummaging technique against one of the most powerful scrums in world rugby. But the price that Marler has had to pay for his ill-discipline has been missing his favourite match of all, and even though he is set to be named in the squad that will face Scotland next weekend, it will not match what facing Wales means to him.

“Watching Saturday, I couldn’t actually watch it,” he explained. “I got in the car just before kick-off and listened to bits on the radio. The radio in my truck is not that good so it was coming in and out and I got home for the last five minutes.

“There was a lot of me that was gutted, because it is my favourite fixture – England-Wales, the best game I love playing in and being involved in and I was gutted not being part of it. Watching the last five minutes, kicking the kids and the wife out of the lounge, I was like ‘You need to leave, I need to watch the telly’.

“That sticks with me that I really need to knuckle down now because I am missing out on these things that I really want to be a part of.

“I don’t really grade all of them. I just grade that one as the best [v Wales] because of the passion and the hatred from their side towards us over the years and the tussles I have had with different characters, different props. Adam Jones back in 2013, oh my God, that is a day I would like to forget but I can’t, and I just really enjoy that sort of confrontation with two sides.

“Scotland talk [Murrayfield] up as a hostile place and a tough place to go but it is just another place to go. I haven’t lost to Scotland. I think I look at Wales as my favourite rivalry because it is such a big game – the old cliché you will always hear from us is our next game is the most important game, but I don’t necessarily find it a tough place to go. I just at it as another place to go and play rugby.”

The British and Irish Lions prop will almost certainly return next weekend, given that Alec Hepburn was not called up by Jones this week, and he will be the first to tell you that he doesn’t need protecting from anyone on his return to Test rugby. The only thing that is now clear is that he needs to protect himself from himself, and when the motivation is a place in the England squad a year-and-a-half out from the next Rugby World Cup, the stakes could not be higher for Joe Marler.