England captain Owen Farrell could still be banned for his tackle on Wales flanker Taine Basham in the Rugby World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham.
Reports have emerged, and confirmed to Planet Rugby, that the fly-half could face another disciplinary hearing before this weekend’s clash with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Owen Farrell not in the clear yet
A disciplinary panel rescinded Farrell’s red card on Tuesday, as they judged that Jamie George forced a ‘late change in dynamics’ which played a significant role in the skipper making a dangerous tackle.
The panel’s decision meant that Farrell would be available to face Ireland this weekend and captain England at the World Cup.
However, that could change with reports suggesting that World Rugby will appeal the panel’s verdict.
Rugby writer Murray Kinsella revealed the news on Wednesday afternoon on X (formerly Twitter).
“Hearing that World Rugby will appeal the Owen Farrell decision. No word on when the new hearing might take place, but presumably has to be before this weekend,” Kinsella’s post read.
Hearing that World Rugby will appeal the Owen Farrell decision.
No word on when the new hearing might take place but presumably has to be before this weekend.
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) August 16, 2023
Planet Rugby’s sources confirm Kinsella’s report.
Sources from within Six Nations Rugby have confirmed exclusively to Planet Rugby that the appeal is now ‘looking likely’.
It is understood that the legalese around the final appeal is the only stumbling block, as there is a need to get the wording absolutely correct.
A World Rugby leak has also confirmed this to Planet Rugby.
Potential ban
Farrell now faces a potential ban that could rule him out of the entire Rugby World Cup pool stages.
If a second disciplinary panel believes that George’s actions were not worthy of mitigating his red card down a yellow, the likely entry point for his suspension is set to be six matches.
While Saturday’s sending-off was Farrell’s first in a Test match, he does not have a clean disciplinary record.
Farrell has been suspended for dangerous tackles in 2016, 2020 and January earlier this year.
This means that he would not qualify for a maximum mitigation of 50 per cent for his sanction.
The committee would only be able to drop his suspension by one or two weeks, leading to a ban of between four and six weeks.
This means that he would miss the clash with Ireland this weekend and England’s final warm-up match against Fiji at Twickenham.
Farrell would then miss the first two pool stage matches against Argentina and Japan and potentially the games against Chile and Samoa.
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