Owen Farrell has been handed a shock reprieve and is free to lead England at the Rugby World Cup after his red card was rescinded – a decision slammed as “making a mockery” of the sport’s commitment to on-field safety by Progressive Rugby, a leading player welfare and concussion awareness lobby group.
Farrell was facing a six-match ban and was expected to miss the start of England’s campaign in France but he is now free to play immediately after a three-and-a-half-hour disciplinary hearing in which the panel determined that his high tackle on Wales’s Taine Basham at the weekend did not meet the threshold for a ban.
The England captain admitted foul play but argued the incident did not warrant a red card and, crucially, the panel determined that Jamie George pushed Basham into contact with Farrell, providing enough mitigation for the fly-half. “The committee found that a late change in dynamics due to England No 2’s interaction in the contact area brought about a sudden and significant change in direction from the ball carrier,” read a disciplinary statement.
The verdict goes down as another feather in the cap for England’s team lawyer, Richard Smith KC, who is described on his Chambers website as a barrister who “achieves incredible results from seemingly impossible situations”.
The upshot is that Steve Borthwick has been handed a welcome boost and no longer needs to plan the start of England’s World Cup campaign without his captain. It is understood that World Rugby and Six Nations, as the organisers of the fixture, can appeal against the decision.
Soon after the initial verdict was released, Progressive Rugby issued a damning statement claiming the decision also undermines the newly introduced bunker review system. Farrell was initially issued a yellow card while the decision was reviewed by a separate television match official who decided a red card was warranted.
“[The] astounding decision to overturn the [red card] given to Owen Farrell for his tackle on Taine Basham has made a mockery of World Rugby’s claim that player welfare is the game’s number one priority,” Professor John Fairclough, from Progressive Rugby, said. “Additionally, despite protestations in the judgment to the contrary, it has critically undermined the newly introduced bunker process before a global tournament and eroded confidence in the game’s judicial process which is meant to help protect those playing the game.”
Farrell is now available for England’s third World Cup warmup match, against Ireland on Saturday, but can expect intense scrutiny of his tackling technique in the coming weeks. He was sent off this year for a high tackle on Gloucester’s Jack Clement and has served two previous bans for similar incidents.
The England defence coach, Kevin Sinfield, has insisted, however, that Farrell receives unfair criticism, urging against vilifying the fly‑half in the manner in which David Beckham was following his red card for the England football team at the 1998 World Cup. The aftermath was such that angry supporters hung an effigy of Beckham in his England kit.
“He’s England captain, he understands that it’s part of the territory,” Sinfield said of Farrell. “In any sport, if you’re England captain, the noise and the heat, the magnitude of it is bigger than it is anyone else.
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“I’ll go back a long, long time to the ’98 World Cup when Beckham gets sent off. If it had been any other player, it probably wouldn’t have been the same. I’m not suggesting that Owen is like Beckham at all. I don’t even think that Beckham was England captain at that time. But there are certain players who get a lot of heat. I don’t think Owen overly puts himself out there. He’s a really good guy, who wants to get better and wants to help the team. Some of it I don’t understand.”
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Plumtree still in hunt for Wales World Cup spot
Wales back-row forward Taine Plumtree does not require shoulder surgery after being injured against England and remains in World Cup selection contention.
Wales assistant coach Jonathan Thomas has confirmed that Plumtree faces a period of rehabilitation, but he will not go under the knife.
Head coach Warren Gatland will name his 33-strong World Cup squad next Monday, and Thomas said: “Taine has not been ruled out of the World Cup. He doesn’t need surgery, so he is still available.
“There is a process he will need to go through in terms of rehab, but he has not been ruled out of contention for selection for the World Cup. Sometimes you need surgery and it rules you out for a long period of time, so I guess that is a positive in that respect.”
“He’s had one incident in probably the last 15, 20 games he’s played. In that period of time the amount of tackles he’s taken part in in training, with us, or with Saracens, his tackle technique has been very, very good.
“We’ve had one incident. I understand some of the noise. Some of it I don’t get, either. You guys have tried to hang him when it’s one poorly timed tackle. We need to get some balance to this. If it’s Owen I think the heat that is generated is far greater than if it was anyone else.”
