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22nd August 2023
09:36pm BST
Owen Farrell has been hit with a ban that will see him miss his country's final World Cup warm-up and some matches at the upcoming tournament.
Farrell was initially yellow-carded in England's defeat to Wales, in Cardiff, over a fortnight ago before that decision was upgraded to a red. He was then expected to cop a strict ban, as this would be his fourth such poor tackling offence, but an independent panel decided there were mitigating circumstances and freed him up to begin play 'immediately'.
World Rugby waited until it received the ruling in full before taking the rare step of appealing that independent panel's decision. There was another gathering held this morning [Tuesday, August 22] and Farrell was hit with a four-match ban. The ruling (in part) reads:
'The Appeal Committee met on Tuesday, August 22 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.
'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:
