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Kevin Sinfield: The 'one in 2,000 tackles' verdict on Owen Farrell

By PA
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Kevin Sinfield has urged England fans not to turn on Owen Farrell after recalling the vilification of David Beckham after the 1998 World Cup. Farrell has seen his red card for a dangerous challenge in Saturday’s Summer Nations Series victory over Wales overturned in a shock disciplinary verdict that clears him to play against Ireland this weekend.

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Sinfield believes the criticism Farrell has faced since he was sent off at Twickenham is more intense because of his status as England captain and draws a similarity to Beckham’s dismissal for kicking Argentina’s Diego Simeone 25 years ago.

When Beckham returned from the World Cup in France, he experienced a nasty backlash from disgruntled supporters to the point that an effigy of the Manchester United midfielder dangled from a hangman’s noose near Upton Park.

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    Kiwi pundits react to Owen Farrell’s red | The Breakdown

    “Owen is England captain and he understands that it is part of the territory,” England defence coach Sinfield said. “In any sport, if you are England captain the noise and the heat, the magnitude of it is bigger than if it were anyone else.

    “I’ll go back a long, long time to the 1998 World Cup when Beckham gets sent off. If it had been any other player, it probably wouldn’t have been the same.

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    “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 is a really good guy who wants to get better and wants to help the team. Some of it I don’t understand.

    “I understand some of the noise. Some of it I don’t get either. You guys have tried to hang him when it is one poorly-timed tackle. We need to get some balance to this. If it is Owen, the heat that is generated is far greater than if it was anyone else.”

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    Farrell was banned as recently as January for a high tackle on Gloucester’s Jack Clement and was also suspended in 2016 and 2020 for the same offence. Sinfield insists those challenges are anomalies.

    “I know how hard Owen is working on his tackle technique and I know what he has done through the Six Nations, and with Saracens,” Sinfield said.

    “This is a guy who wants to improve and get better. He has made one mistake. Players are human. Owen has worked incredibly hard. Since our last incident, he has probably been involved in about 2,000 tackles.

    “I have overseen the vast majority of them as he has been with us. He has been exceptional. Referees get things wrong, we all get things wrong in this room, we know that, and Owen is human.

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    “It may happen again and if it does I would ask that it is judged fairly. This is probably one in 2,000 tackles he has got wrong.”

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    Comments

    19 Comments
    C
    Christopher 703 days ago

    Really disappointed in these comments. The amount of complaining by Rugby fans.... May as well be football. The irony is not wasted on me that I am complaining about people complaining. I'm a big Farrell fan and even though he is a professional player, I can understand why he inevitably might get it wrong. As Sinfield has said, he makes thousands of tackles and has logged three or four mistakes. It's a fast dynamic game that most of us can only try and compare with our town club level rugby and think it translates. It doesn't! Try and think what everyday work task you do and track when it's in the thousands, I'm sure if you had integrity you can acknowledge mistakes are made. I do not believe he is a thug but a tough and very competitive player. All the best look forward England.

    P
    PaPaRumple 703 days ago

    Okay then why does he do it over and over again. Why is it him that is known for these shoulder tackles?

    R
    Red 704 days ago

    All England games where Farrell is named should be boycotted. Hit the powers where it hurts, in their pockets

    D
    Dave 704 days ago

    If Farrell or Borthwck had an ounce of integrity, Farrell would not be playing this weekend at the very least.


    I truly hope England's fans boo and jeer him every time he touches the ball. It's the least he deserves.

    R
    Robert 704 days ago

    Read Sean Edwards comments earlier today. Rugby is a contact sport and tun in real time. Accidents happen.

    T
    Tk 704 days ago

    So he's trying really hard to improve? Over 10 years as a professional player and 100 international caps plus club games. Slow learner then? The entire drive to improve both safety and consistency has just died.

    D
    DO 704 days ago

    What an absolute moron. Beckham was a world class player and international icon, that's why he faced such scrutiny. Farrell is a bang average player who would never be selected for any of the top 4 teams in the world. He is disliked because he's dirty and embodies everything the rest of the world hate about England rugby: Spoiled, petulant, dirty with 0 sportsmanship (think refusing to wear their runners up medals in 2019). But most of all, people just don't like dirty players...how many times has he thrown cheap shots like this? He is a coward.

    T
    TI 704 days ago

    Sinfield is talking loyalist nonsense, and Farrell deserves all the negative personal characteristics, that you’ve given him, but he’s not an average player. He’s a test centurion with over 1000 international points. He is (or more precisely used to be) an excellent player.

    I dislike him and Sexton passionately, for their chauvinistic, arrogant, disdainful behavior and their near psychopathic personality traits, but they are excellent players. I hate it, but they are.

    C
    CRZ38L 705 days ago

    This is just so wrong on so many levels. There will be another player who makes the same tackle as Farrell during the upcoming RWC and they will be banned, mark my words.


    If I was the coach of that team, I would refuse to take the field for the remainder of the competition, which would make the rest of the RWC null and void.


    Why should Farrell and England receive special treatment? Even the London Telegraph wants Farrell banned.


    This decision goes against everything World Rugby is trying to get out of the game around contact to the head.

    C
    Charles 705 days ago

    Seriously? Bad tackles happen, it's a fast physical game. But when a shocking tackle happens then accept the punishment. So 2 problems here - Farrell's continuous approach which puts safety and well-being as a second priority, and the association overturning the referee and everyone's verdict. Overall disgraceful to the sport, really puts me off rugby union, this is spoiling a great sport. Slaps in the face of people trying to make sport safe.

    U
    Utiku Old Boy 705 days ago

    English rugby reminding the rest of the rugby world why their team is widely despised. Arrogance, whining, preferential treatment from officials - all undermines their players in obvious attempt to help them win.

    A
    Arthur 705 days ago

    Sinfield has just flushed his good reputation down the pan with that comment. A shocking tackle, no real impact made by George, a disgraceful disciplinary result. This has thrown rugby integrity under the bus.

    B
    Bob 705 days ago

    Kevin Sinfield's opinion is a million times more valuable than HYS addicts

    J
    Jimmy 705 days ago

    Absolute bollocks Sinfield. Farrell is a grub and deserves to be vilified!

    B
    BigMaul 705 days ago

    Is this a joke? Come on Sinfield, you’re a respectable bloke. You can’t be saying stuff like this.


    1 in 2000? Is that supposed to make it okay? It doesn’t make a difference. What rubbish.


    “ This is a guy who wants to improve and get better. He has made one mistake”. No, this is the problem, he hasn’t made one mistake. He is a repeat offender. He doesn’t learn. He doesn’t change. He’s made the same mistake several times.


    Honestly. To try and justify this, it’s disgraceful. This is not a joke. This is serious. This is about peoples health.

    T
    TI 704 days ago

    He’s making the same “mistake”, because he knows he will always get away with it.

    He’s just abusing the carte blanche to commit goonery, that World Rugby seem to be dealing him again and again.

    Many other players would equally abuse a privileged position if they were given one.

    A
    AD 705 days ago

    Thumbs up for this comment. Thank you, Big Maul.

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    H
    Hellhound 20 minutes ago
    Springboks' No.1 status in world rankings coming under increased threat

    I disagree. A fair system would include points for EVERY MATCH you play, top guns or dregs. The WC should not influence the points table. No tournament should. It should be simple. This much for a home or away win. The problem with that is that Top Tier nations can point stay by arranging a lot of games against those nations to bring up their points tally, which wouldn't work. At least not on the points table. It would however give Tier 2 nations more game time against the Top Tier nations, which in itself is a good thing. However, that being said, it would dilute the quality of teams as they don't face tough enough opposition to handle the real tough teams, so come WC time, they would suffer for those consequences. There is no points system that currently can be used that would be fair to all, so the best is to try and be as fair as possible. We may not like the current system, but it's the best we have. Some suggested the Soccer system, but it won't work in rugby. No one has come up with a better points system and if they did, WR isn't sharing that. They would rather keep an eye on Dr Rassie with pen in hand ready to declare everything he does as illegal and against the spirit of the game. The SA men are too big, we can't stop them. Maybe we should ban the big men from SA as illegal but keep the big men of other countries? Oh wait, now the SA backs are too fast and slippery. That isn't good for WR so let's declare fast SA backs as illegal too. Yeah, that's how it works in WR isn't it? WR and all other countries hate the Boks. Never give them the respect they deserve, then are shocked completely finding out that no South African care what the world of rugby or its fans or other nations think about us. We don't care about the points system. It's as rotten as World Rugby and it's socialistic communistic rule of laws. The Boks will keep leading the brand of rugby. Keep innovating. Keep pushing boundaries. Keep the game interesting. We respect the AB's because they respect us. They may not like us, but the respect has always been crystal clear. Over 100 years of the biggest rivalry in rugby’s history can't be thrown away just like that. No points system can do that. Between WC's, we care about the AB's, the rest is just preparation for the next WC.

    95 Go to comments
    J
    Jfp123 23 minutes ago
    New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

    It would be interesting to see how the financial deal and viewing figures for these last 3 matches compare with those for previous tours by leading NH nations. I imagine that broadcasting rights are negotiated a fair way in advance, so did the broadcasters realise France would send a B team when they signed on the dotted line? And to what extent were viewing figures affected? I’d have thought die hard fans would tune in anyway, and more casual fans wouldn’t know much about French players, except perhaps Dupont, and wouldn’t care who played on the French side - wouldn’t it be which ABs played that would matter to them? Although the big ‘disrespect’ furore might have had an effect, but whether to increase or decrease viewing figures I couldn’t say.

    It’s not only the French national team that sends out B teams, many of their clubs do too, both in away matches in the Top14 and in Champions Cup. But these B teams often play in front of sell out crowds, and the value of the broadcasting rights for the Top 14 have gone up and up.

    Of course, home advantage is real, and matches against the Saffas and ABs where they play best is I guess at the current time the hardest test of all. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll actually see France A in NZ or SA for the foreseeable future - the Top14 really is a fabulous competition, almost year round brilliant rugby, with big stars from around the world, madly enthusiastic fans, and a big money earner, I can’t see the French making major alterations (I’m not French, but I’m a big fan too and the only alteration I’d make is a limit on individual playing time for player welfare).

    Considering their home record against NZ and away against Ireland, I think that’s enough to acknowledge that the top French players have a very high degree of skill, but if SH fans don’t see things that way, that’s up to them. My point was, if NZ fans don’t think much of them, why are they so bothered they’re not there. Anyway come 2027, France A will travel to the SH, if not NZ or SA, and we’ll see what happens!

    100 Go to comments
    S
    Soliloquin 43 minutes ago
    All Blacks squeeze past France to sweep July series in Hamilton

    Big question!

    I think they would get outsmarted by the A team, outpacked forward and depending on the form of the A team, the score would be more or less 15-20 points a higher or lower victory.

    The only issue is that France has a lot of 13s, and they were all in NZ.

    This weekend’s team was gassed out, so it’s also very much linked to fitness level.

    Just like the ABs were tired at the end of November, while the French were rusty after just one game against Japan.

    I fear they will get smashed in Paris without Dupont (confirmed to be still out) by the Springboks as it will be their first game of the international season (a nonsense to me - the biggest game will be the first)


    The squad for this France A would be:

    Gros-Mauvaka-Tatafu

    Flament-Meafou

    Cros-Ollivon-Alldritt

    Dupont-Ntamack

    Moefana-?(all 13s were in NZ) Costes ?

    Bielle-Biarrey-Penaud

    Ramos


    (But if you can take players from the NZ, then Guillard and Barassi or Fickou could be in)


    Against the C team:

    Erdocio-Bourgarit-Slimani

    Auradou-Halagahu

    Fischer-Guillard-Brennan

    Le Garrec-Hastoy

    Fickou-Depoortere

    Attissogbe-Villière

    Barré


    And a B team would be:

    Baille-Marchand-Atonio

    Cazeaux-Vergé

    Jegou-Jelonch-Gazzotti

    Lucu-Jalibert

    Danty-Frisch

    Lebel-Dréan

    Buros


    ———

    France A-France C at full fitness: 38-12

    France A-France B: 28-17

    France B-France C: 32-20


    It seems a bit like Toulouse is kind of France A at full power last year, UBB is France B at full power last year and Racing92 is France C at full power this year.

    112 Go to comments
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