Dai Young has admitted he would have been provoked into action against Joe Marler if the England prop had squirted water in his face.

Former Wales skipper Young – now Wasps director of rugby – was angered by Marler’s scrap with James Haskell during Wasps’ 24-21 home defeat to Harlequins on Sunday.

Haskell was left incensed at his yellow card for throttling England team-mate Marler off the ball, after tussling with the Quins prop on the ground.

Haskell insisted Marler – who was fined £20,000 last year in the “Gypsygate” dispute involving Wales’ Samson Lee – had choked him with the strap of his scrum cap, before squirting him in the face with water.

Young said: “If someone rips your hat off, then squirts water in your face, what do you expect? It was very harsh on James Haskell.

“There comes a time when you’ve got to look at the guys that spark these things up, not somebody that’s going to take exception to someone ripping their hat off and squirting water in their face.

“There was a lot going on, lots of yapping; I don’t think it helps the game, I don’t like that,” said Young.

“We’ve all watched James play over the years, he doesn’t react to much, but you could see he was pretty annoyed, and more annoyed for getting a yellow card for reacting.

“And by the way he didn’t throw a punch, he just grabbed the guy – he’s got better restraint than I would have had.”

“What you want from referees is consistency, and I’ve got to be honest I thought he was consistent, he gave us nothing all game.

Quins rugby director John Kingston defended Marler’s feisty attitude, despite admitting he had not seen the incident in any detail.

“I didn’t see it to be honest with you – it’s an Arsene Wenger moment, but I didn’t,” said Kingston.

“All I saw was a skirmish on the floor. It was very important for us to be very physical, very confrontational, but also to make sure we were on the right side of the line. By the end, that just about happened.

“Rugby’s a physical sport, that’s why we love it and that’s why they’re such wonderful players.

“I was more disappointed that Joe (Marler) went off with a rib injury. We don’t know the extent of it yet, but he’s a brave lad and for him to leave the field it must have been hurting him.”