Owen Farrell available for World Cup after red card not upheld

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.

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.

Farrell has been suspended for a total of 11 matches for dangerous tackles spanning three incidents.

The most recent of those was an illegal challenge on Gloucester’s Jack Clement in January, which was reduced from four to three games after England’s fly-half completed tackle school, enabling him to face Scotland in the Six Nations opener.

The decision to overturn the red card is sure to anger anti-concussion campaigners, among them former Wales international Alix Popham, who described it as a “shocking challenge”.

Progressive Rugby, which campaigns for better protection of rugby union players, issued a statement condemning the decision.

“Today’s astounding decision to overturn the red card given to Owen Farrell for his tackle on Taine Basham has made a mockery of World Rugby’s claim that player welfare is the game’s number one priority,” the statement read.

“Additionally, despite protestations in the judgement to the contrary, it has critically undermined the newly introduced bunker process before a global tournament and eroded confidence in the game’s judicial process which is meant to help protect those playing the game.”