Owen Farrell is CLEARED completely after his red card for a dangerous high tackle against Wales with the England captain avoiding any ban and free to play at the World Cup
Owen Farrell has been completely CANCELLED following his red card for a dangerous high tackle against Wales, with the England captain evading any suspension and free to play at the World Cup
England captain Owen Farrell is free to play at the World Cup after a disciplinary panel made a shock decision to withdraw his red card.
The number 10 was sent off on Saturday for a high shot at Wales flanker Taine Basham at Twickenham but challenged the decision in a video hearing on Tuesday.
He is now free to play straight away as the bunker review decision has been reversed, meaning he can play in the tournament’s warm-up against Ireland and in France this weekend.
Represented by Richard Smith KC, mitigation was found on the basis that Basham was pushed into Farrell’s path by hooker Jamie George.
His postponement comes as a big surprise, as Farrell has previously served three suspensions for dangerous tackling.
Owen Farrell was sent off for a high shot at Taine Basham during England’s win over Wales
A disciplinary panel decided to withdraw the red card after the video hearing
The national captain was expected to miss part of England’s World Cup campaign
Farrell was widely expected to serve a long suspension that would have ruled him out of the opening World Cup pool match with Argentina, so his full exemption came out of nowhere and has already sparked widespread disbelief in the rugby world.
Farrell was initially booked for his high hit on Basham before rugby’s new bunker rating system upgraded it to red following assessment of the incident.
After his case was heard by a full Australian panel, the disciplinary statement read: ‘After reviewing all evidence, questioning the player in detail and hearing the comments of the player’s representative, the committee concluded that the Foul Play Review Officer was wrong, on the balance of odds, to upgrade the yellow card provided to the player to a red card.
“The committee, in applying World Rugby’s main contact process, has determined that a limitation should be applied to the high degree of danger identified by the Foul Play Review Officer.
‘The committee found that a late change in dynamics due to No. 2 England’s interaction in the contact area caused a sudden and significant change in direction of the ball carrier.
“In the opinion of the committee, this mitigation was sufficient to bring the player’s offense below the red card threshold.”
Steve Borthwick will be immensely relieved to have his captain freely available to play
The result is a major boost to England’s World Cup plans after a stuttering start to the Steve Borthwick era.
The statement on Farrell defended the role of the disciplinary process.
It read: ‘The Committee believes it is important to establish that no criticism is being made of the Foul Play Review Officer and would not be justified. Unlike the Foul Play Review Officer, the Committee had the luxury of time to privately deliberate and consider the incident and the proper application of the Principal Contact Process.
“The committee believes this is in contrast to the Foul Play Review Officer, who had to make his decision within minutes without the benefit of all additional material, including hearing the player and his legal representative.”