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'Jealousy is not pleasant': Former England international's message for fans after Farrell ban
By Kim Ekin
Owen Farrell's ban has divided opinion with Twitter in a furore over the England captain's reduced sentence which will see him able to suit up for the Six Nations.
After being cited for a tackle in Saracens win over Gloucester, in which Farrell kicked the winning drop goal, the flyhalf was potentially looking at a lengthy suspension.
The committee handed Farrell a four-match suspension which can be reduced to three games should he attend a tackling intervention programme.
The sentence did not go down with fans on Twitter well, leading to former England international Will Carling to call for calm.
Carling, who was England's youngest ever captain at age 22, called on fans to 'move on' and put the emotional backlash down to jealousy. He went on to write:
"The reaction on here to Owen Farrell is sad. Jealousy is not pleasant! If he wasn't such a good, successful player & England captain, the tone would be different.
"Was not in the same league as a player, but remember the comments/emotion directed at an England captain! Smile! Move on."
Media pundits were skeptical that the tackling school initiative for Owen Farrell will fail to change his technique so late in his career.
Irish rugby scribe Ruaidhri O'Connor called it 'ridiculous' will New Zealand's pundit Jamie Wall made a point that the former players coaching international teams are part of the problem.
The polarising decision had plenty of debate on both sides with equal amounts of fans not all that bothered by the tackle and some believing the sanction was too light.
An official statement by the judicial committee believed that the Farrell offence was in the mid-range of seriousness and in applying mitigation to the six-week entry point, it concluded:
“Given the player’s previous offending he is not eligible to receive the 50 per cent reduction for mitigation which would otherwise be available to him.
“However, given the player’s timely acknowledgment of his offending and considering his behaviour following the incident, during the hearing and leading up to the hearing, sitting alongside other mitigation available to him the panel does feel able to reduce the sanction by a period of two weeks.”
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Latest Comments
Does anyone know a way to loook at how many mins each player has played whilst on tour?
Go to commentsIt certainly needs to be cherished. Despite Nick (and you) highlighting their usefulness for teams like Australia (and obviously those in France they find form with) I (mention it general in those articles) say that I fear the game is just not setup in Aus and NZ to appreciate nor maximise their strengths. The French game should continue to be the destination of the biggest and most gifted athletes but it might improve elsewhere too.
I just have an idea it needs a whole team focus to make work. I also have an idea what the opposite applies with players in general. I feel like French backs and halves can be very small and quick, were as here everyone is made to fit in a model physique. Louis was some 10 and 20 kg smaller that his opposition and we just do not have that time of player in our game anymore. I'm dying out for a fast wing to appear on the All Blacks radar.
But I, and my thoughts on body size in particular, could be part of the same indoctrination that goes on with player physiques by the establishment in my parts (country).
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