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Owen Farrell free to play after red card thrown out

By PA
Owen Farrell the England captain looks dejected after their defeatduring the Six Nations Rugby match between England and Scotland at Twickenham Stadium on February 04, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Owen Farrell will lead England into the World Cup after his red card against Wales was not upheld by a disciplinary panel, making him free to play with immediate effect.

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Farrell was sent off at Twickenham on Saturday when his yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Taine Basham was upgraded to a red by the ‘Bunker’ review system.

But the hearing decided that a “late change in dynamics” due to Jamie George’s involvement in the contact area “brought about a sudden and significant change in direction from the ball carrier”.

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Using this mitigation it was decided by the all-Australian panel that Farrell – who was expected to face a mid-range sanction of a six-week suspension – should have been hit with a sin-binning only.

Owen Farrell File Photos

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Comments

65 Comments
M
Michael86 703 days ago

The desperate measures World Rugby is taking to give England the best possible chance of winning the WC, because they are simply too pathetic to do it themselves

D
Dave 703 days ago

Red card for the Aussy Panel. Appropriate punishment to include:


An immediate alcohol and drugs ban to be applied for all future Panel deliberations.


Specsavers sponsorship must include an unlimited supply of product to Panelists.


SplitEnz's "I see red" to be played during TMO stoppages at all future England matches.


"Three Blinc Mice" to replace Aussy, Aussy, Aussy, Oi, Oi, Oi" at Aussy internationals.

D
Dave 703 days ago

Utter hypocritical BS.


The panel was made up of Aussies (or so I read elsewhere). WTF IS going on?


No doubt Trump will be reaching out to Farrell's lawyer...

U
Utiku Old Boy 704 days ago

Disgraceful bias. Northern hemisphere pressure on the so-called "neutral" panel is evident given previous rulings on much less obvious incidents. Stinks of corruption.

D
Dave 703 days ago

Panel was all Aussy, apparently.... Beggars belief really

d
dk 704 days ago

Disgraceful. Let's see if Gosper decides to grow some and do what's right. And we all know what the answer to that will be.

J
Jérémie 704 days ago

Ahahahahahaha, so funny ! And I'm sure they're not even ashamed of themselves ! That's absolutely disgusting. It's a good thing that England won't pass the pool, 'cause we don't need to see such players on the field.

J
Juan Jose 703 days ago

I wish, but I can tell you already England will pass first. Argentina and Samoa will have players sent off on the matches against England, probably cause they looked at Farrell in a wrong way or maybe cause they are running... not sure, but there will be some good excuse. I am already worried at what will happen on the last warm up match of those two teams. You'll see. Is all being set for an Ireland / England final. See also te leniency with Sexton.

C
CT 704 days ago

T-Rex is free

C
CB 704 days ago

It becomes harder and harder to argue that rugby is a better game than football. Play acting injury is becoming more common (Josh Adams, Johnny Sexton being the worst culprits) Whilst I can see how JG presence altered the dynamics Farrells shoulder was tucked before that happened he was always going high doing nothing to mitigate a change of height...Where is the support for the officials that are making these decisions.

I'm English and even I think this decision stinks to high heaven

J
Jmann 704 days ago

This is beyond absurd. This can only be explained by corruption in the process.

j
john 704 days ago

so much for Desperate Dan's 'faux' outrage!

M
Mike 704 days ago

No change of direction, no dip, no wrap, no knee jerk referee decision. Just a bunker decision and total bunkum from the panel…a disgrace!

J
Juan Jose 704 days ago

Yep. First mistake was there: it was clearly a direct red card.

R
Rodrigo 704 days ago

This is a disgrace. Finding some mitigating factors doesn't remove the fact that Farrell's tackling technique is dangerous and repetitive over time...

S
Sumkunn Tsadmiova 704 days ago

Perhaps those garbage-writing hacks like Mick Cleary will pipe down now that their hysterical rantings are shown to be totally ludicrous. It takes a 3-man judicial committee (from that well known biased English ally OZ!) soberly and carefully to rule on the situation. Which they have done.

D
Derek Murray 704 days ago

Sumkunn, your view was supported by the panel but pretty much nobody else who saw it. Farrell has, again, gotten away with a dangerous tackle that is supposed to be outlawed. Gloating about it doesn't make this horrendous decision any more correct.

B
BV 704 days ago

The World Rugby judicial process has just committed suicide.

S
Schneider 704 days ago

Samoans, Fijians, Tongans and Saffas on red alert now- to copy the Farrel no Arms tackle technique. World Rugby just shot itself in the foot.

F
FC 704 days ago

Don't write the All Blacks off, mate....

Jerry Collins.

Ma'a Nonu

Hika Elliott

Liam Messam.

Rodney Saoialo.

Ali Williams.

Brad Thorn.

Dane Coles.

All liked a bit of shoulder-to-face every couple of games.

D
Derek Murray 704 days ago

Would have been good for WR to let us all know before the match that we'd given up on protecting heads. It's open season again, lads.


Can Eddie get a do over and select Lachie Swinton now?

e
eamonn 704 days ago

aussie committee decided, i reckon they know exactly what there doing........chances are they face england and with Farrell there they have a better chance of beating them.


kidding aside............he will probably throw another shoulder in this weekend in dublin and may finally get his ban next week ;)

S
Sam 704 days ago

Aahh, good point. The Aussies are playing the long game - odds are that Farrell will do it again this weekend and the subsequent ban will see him miss the entire RWC.


I did not expect such subtlety from Aus.

J
Juan Jose 704 days ago

Look, the only way he gets a ban is if he shoots someone. And not even sure then

w
wiluaom 704 days ago

So please help me to understand what is not working properly: It must be either the 'Independent Disciplinary Panel' or the 'Bunker System'? If the Ref gave the red card, then I can understand the role of the Disciplinary Panel, as well as them sometimes overturning decisions the Ref made as they have more time and can look at more evidence. But all we can conclude now is that the 'Bunker System' is already flawed... I see difficulty for officials during the upcoming RWC to convince the public that big bribes are not influencing key decisions or even results of games after this outcome!

B
BE 704 days ago

Apparently a communication issue, World Rugby was meant to issue a list of player names that are above the law. It was confirmed that said list would be distributed as soon as possible after this hearing to prevent further embarrassment and confusion.

A
Andrew 704 days ago

Maybe it is because the bunker only gets 8 mins (within the yellow 10 mins range)

J
Jacque 704 days ago

Agree. Said the same thing when SA & NZ played the autum internationals last year.

J
Jacque 704 days ago

NOT SHOCKED AT ALL. TYPICAL OF WORLD RUGBY LOOK PAST THE FOUL PLAY WHEN RFU IS INVOLVED. SCARED OF THE BLOW-BACK. IF THIS WAS ANY OTHER PLAYER IN THE WORLD WITH THE TRACK RECORD THAT OWEN FARREL HAS- 6 GAME BAN NO DOUBT.


Still an absolute DISGRACE.

J
Juan Jose 704 days ago

Malia got 2 for blocking a kick!

R
Rob 704 days ago

Aki got 8…..

J
Juan Jose 704 days ago

in other BREAKING NEWS, Taine Basham has been cited for deliberately hitting Owen Farrell's shoulder with his head. How dares he!

R
RS 703 days ago

was thinking the exact same boet. i know this is a serious situation but this cracked me up a little.

T
TI 704 days ago

Aaaand zero amount of shock. World Rugby once again show they run a two tier justice system. One for a select few Northern Hemisphere golden boys (Farrell, Sexton), and one for everyone else.

This is some warm golden rain in the faces of rugby fans worldwide. One set of rules for me, another set of rules for thee.

Just as in the case of Farrell’s savage attack on Charlie Atkinson, a loophole was found, but this time World Rugby is complicit.

They can talk until they’re blue in their mouths, but they won’t restore the public’s trust in the transparency and fairness of the system.

Once again, this cynical repeat offender is getting a pass

J
Juan Jose 704 days ago

Yep. All expected and clear

t
tom 704 days ago

Disgrace! Remember kids, lead with the shoulder to the head is all good if you captain England and your daddy coaches the best team in the world.

J
James 704 days ago

World Rugby what a complete and utter embarrassment.


Player safety no longer important.

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