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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 459 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 460 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 460 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 460 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 460 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 460 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.

C
CT 460 days ago

T-Rex is free

C
Chris 460 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 460 days ago

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

j
john 460 days ago

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

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