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Owen Farrell’s red card against Wales is overturned

15 Aug 2023 2 minute read
England’s Owen Farrell squares up to Dan Biggar. Photo Joe Giddens PA 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.

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”.

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.

Referee Nika Amashukeli shows a red card to England’s Owen Farrell. Photo David Davies/PA Wire.

Farrell appeared before the independent judicial committee via video link and admitted that his shoulder-led tackle to the head of Basham – who as a result failed an HIA – was illegal but worthy of 10 minutes in the sin-bin only.

After a review of the evidence, it was decided that the “foul play review officer was wrong, on the balance of probabilities, to upgrade the yellow card”.

In coming to its verdict, the panel said no criticism of the foul play review officer was being made given the time in which he had to review the incident and make a decision.

It means that Farrell, who was widely tipped to miss the World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9, is free to lead England against Ireland on Saturday.

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Frank
Frank
1 year ago

Well well well, there’s a surprise ….. not!!! There are no rules for England but there are certainly lots and lots of rules for everyone else. Absolutely blatant and in our faces!!! UK teams should boycott this championship and organise our own leaving them out completely.

Ieuan Evansp
Ieuan Evansp
1 year ago

Surprise Surprise. Never ever did I expect that.

aled rees
aled rees
1 year ago

the little sh-t is now free to do it again.
he is going to seriously hurt someone one day.the rfu should take him to task,will they? will they hell!

David Pearn
David Pearn
1 year ago
Reply to  aled rees

There’s nothing anyone can do now let’s hope they pick him to play against Samoa it’s an absolute farce, FERAL can play but Taine Basham suffering concussion you couldn’t make this nonsense up 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

Windy
Windy
1 year ago
Reply to  David Pearn

The same panel will probably overturn the medical decision from a head injury to a mild headache being caused by his head being on the end of his neck

Gareth
Gareth
1 year ago

This is a shock to most rugby people, the man is a serial offender, with 2 red cards and 6 yellow. Following the game a BBC HYS on this player showed almost all fans of both teams backing the red card, and plenty of English fans were saying ” about time” he had a red, following so many yellows playing for his club, they also claimed the RFU would ensure he would play at the world cup, lol.

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
1 year ago

This is an absolute joke? Smells very fishy to me. One rule for England and another for Wales. When Sam Warburton made that tip tackle against France in the 2011 World Cup semis meant an instant red card and he would have missed a World Cup final if that Lee Halfpenny penality would have crossed the uprights. I find the Six Nations hirachy are getting as bad as UEFA with its numerous scandals and biased towards the so-called larger footballing nations. Who can remember that infamous Wales vs France fiasco that lasted over 100mins where corrupt France brought on a… Read more »

Dai Ponty
Dai Ponty
1 year ago

Come on did you really expect any different if it was one or any of the other countries the ban would have stayed

WilliamsG
WilliamsG
1 year ago

Well well, there’s a surprise

Malcolm Jones
Malcolm Jones
1 year ago

Are they going to let him carry on with his no arms wrapped around tackle until he does somebody some very serious injury how will the English RU take they’re way out of that

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