Billy Vunipola is shown a red card in England’s defeat to Ireland for a dangerous tackle on Andrew Porter just a week after Owen Farrell was sent off against Wales
- Billy Vunipola was sent off after a red card against Ireland
- The England striker made a dangerous tackle on Ireland’s Andrew Porter
- Vunipola could now miss part of England’s upcoming World Cup campaign
Billy Vunipola was sent off on Saturday after England’s defeat to Ireland after an initial yellow card was upgraded to a red after an assessment.
The England striker was involved in a collision with Irishman Andrew Porter in the 53rd minute when he went into the lead with his shoulder while trying to tackle.
Vunipola’s right shoulder made contact with Porter’s head as the Irishman tried to break through England’s defence.
On-field referee Paul Williams initially showed the 30-year-old a red card which put the England star in the sinbin as play resumed.
Ireland would make one more attempt through James Lowe in his absence before Vunipola was permanently removed from the proceedings following an assessment.
Billy Vunipola (pictured) was shown a red card on Saturday after a dangerous tackle on Ireland’s Andrew Porter
Vunipola (centre) could now miss part of England’s upcoming Rugby World Cup campaign
Producing the red card that left Steve Borthwick’s 10-man side ruled by officials who explained there was a ‘high level of danger and no mitigation’.
Vunipola could now miss part of England’s Rugby World Cup campaign, which kicks off against Argentina on September 9, with a hearing scheduled.
The incident comes just a week after Owen Farrell withdrew his red card for a similar tackle against Wales during a disciplinary hearing.
However, the English skipper will attend an independent appeal hearing in relation to the incident on Tuesday.
Vunipola’s teammate and captain of the match in Ireland tried to explain the red card after the match, labeling the tackle a ‘split-second’ decision.
England head coach Steve Borthwick (left) watched as Vunipola (right) received his marching orders
Lawes told Amazon Prime Sport: “People don’t do this on purpose, you know, it’s not a matter of us having to make lower decisions in a split second, things happen, people want to come to the fore and unfortunately mistakes like that happen and it will unfortunately remain an essential part of the game.
“All you can really do is do your best to keep going, don’t hang your head on it, no matter what happened, we were much more under wraps than we wanted to, but always positive messages and through to the next job.
“I don’t want to comment on it at the moment, we have to try to make the sport safer and that’s why there are penalties like this and we got a red card for it today.
‘What else can you do? We try not to hurt each other, split-second decisions, sometimes mistakes happen.’