England captain Owen Farrell banned from World Cup matches after review of his sickening tackle
OWEN FARRELL has been suspended for England’s opening two games of the World Cup following his horror tackle against Wales.
Farrell, 31, was sent off in the warm-up match earlier this month, before it was retrospectively downgraded to a yellow.
Now, following an appeal from World Rugby, the decision to award a red has been upheld.
And it means Farrell will miss England‘s pool matches against Argentina and Japan, as well as their upcoming warm-up games against Ireland and Fiji.
However, “the player’s acceptance of foul play, clear demonstration of remorse and his good character” mean he has avoided a further two-match ban.
This means he will be available for England’s final pool matches against Chile and Samoa.
The full statement from England Rugby read: “Following an initial Disciplinary Committee hearing for Owen Farrell, who received a red card during the Summer Nations Series match between England and Wales on Saturday 12th August, World Rugby lodged a formal appeal against the Committees’ decision to downgrade the red card to a yellow, appealing for the red card to be upheld.
“The Appeal Committee met on Tuesday 22nd August and unanimously determined that in the original hearing the Disciplinary Committee should have considered the attempt of the player to wrap his opponent in the tackle. This point did not feature in the original decision.
“The failure to attempt to wrap was judged to be an important element of the Foul Play Review Officer’s (FPRO) report and had led to an upgrading of the referee’s yellow card to a red card during the match.
“As this element did not feature in the original decision, the Appeal Committee decided it was in the interests of justice to hear the case afresh on that key point alone, which included hearing from the player.
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“Following the review by the Appeal Committee of this key element, it was determined that the FPRO was correct in his decision leading to the red card. The Appeal Committee subsequently determined that the tackle was ‘always illegal’.
“When applying the terms of World Rugby’s Head Contact Process, no mitigation can be applied to a tackle that is ‘always illegal’.
“The Appeal Committee therefore considered that the Disciplinary Committee’s decision to downgrade the red card to a yellow card had been manifestly wrong, which led to the Disciplinary Committee’s decision being overturned, the appeal brought by World Rugby being allowed, and the red card upheld.
“In considering sanction, the Committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head (six-matches). Taking all considerations into account, including the player’s acceptance of foul play, clear demonstration of remorse and his good character, the Committee agreed a four-match suspension.
“The Appeal Committee accepted submissions on behalf of the player that the Ireland v England match on 19 August 2023, for which the player was voluntarily stood down would be included as part of the sanction. Therefore, the suspension applies to the following matches:
“Ireland v England – 19 August 2023
“England v Fiji – 26 August 2023
“England v Argentina – 9 September 2023
England v Japan – 17 September 2023.”
England have been less than impressive in their preparations for the World Cup – which gets underway in France on September 8.
They were beaten 20-9 by Wales in Cardiff at the beginning of August, before scraping a 19-17 victory over the same opponents at Twickenham.
Then on Saturday, they lost 29-10 to Ireland.