Owen Farrell to face disciplinary panel on Tuesday

Saracens’ Owen Farrell will appear before an online disciplinary panel on Tuesday evening. The fly-half was shown a red card by referee Christophe Ridley in the 61st minute of Saturday’s match between Saracens and Wasps for a dangerous tackle on Wasps’ Charlie Atkinson.

Tuesday’s panel will comprise Mike Hamlin (chair), Gareth Graham and Leon Lloyd.

Farrell’s red card means he is set to miss the Champions Cup quarter-final with Leinster on September 19, one of the biggest matches since rugby’s restart.

“It is what it is. He could easily have been out of the Leinster came for another reason – injury or whatever,” said director of rugby Mark McCall.

“He missed the last quarter-final of the Champions Cup because his wife was having their first child.

“We have got plenty of good backs at the club so we will just rearrange our back line a little bit and get on with it.”

RugbyPass columnist Andy Goode has said he believes the England star deserves at least 10 weeks of a ban.

"It was reckless, it was intentional and premeditated to a certain extent because you could see his eyes lining him up. Atkinson was also in a vulnerable position and wasn’t dipping. All in all, it was a horrible looking tackle," Goode wrote.

"Farrell is always trying to make big hits and he tackles high so he knows himself that he’s treading a very fine line. Player safety is rightly paramount nowadays, though, and he’s out of control more than he’s in control when he’s tackling like that.

"It absolutely shouldn’t matter that he’s Owen Farrell or that he’s the England captain when it comes to the disciplinary hearing this week. That goes both ways. He shouldn’t be made an example of just because of who he is but there definitely shouldn’t be any special leniency either."

PA, additional reporting RugbyPass