 On 25 May 2013, Barnes refereed the English Premiership final between Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints (his fifth English Premiership final), during which Barnes sent off Northampton captain Dylan Hartley for calling him "a f****** cheat".This was the first time a player had been sent off in an English Premiership final.Hartley's subsequent 11-week ban at an RFU disciplinary hearing cost him his place on the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia (their first successful tour for sixteen years).