Six Nations statement: Committee, date named for Owen Farrell appeal

The date for the Owen Farrell appeal hearing has been confirmed, as has the identity of the three-person independent judicial committee.

It was last Tuesday when the England skipper was cleared to play with immediate effect after the red card he received in last Saturday’s Summer Nations Series match against Wales was rescinded and downgraded to a yellow card offence.

However, World Rugby decided on Thursday to exercise its right to appeal the decision and this appeal will be heard next Tuesday by a committee consisting of personnel from New Zealand, Singapore and Ireland.

A Friday night Six Nations statement read: “England fly-half Owen Farrell will attend an independent appeal hearing in relation to the independent disciplinary hearing decision dated Tuesday, August 16.

“The player will attend a hearing via video conference before an independent judicial committee consisting of Nigel Hampton KC (chair, New Zealand), joined by Shao-ing Wang (Singapore) and Donal Courtney (Ireland). The hearing will take place on Tuesday, August 22.”

Last Tuesday’s video hearing lasted three and a half hours and the independent judicial committee was an all-Australian panel consisting of Adam Casselden (SC, chair) and two former Wallaby players, John Langford and David Croft.

Their decision freed Farrell to play. However, having missed a chunk of England training on Monday and then having also missed all of his team’s training on Tuesday, Steve Borthwick decided to omit Farrell from his selection plans for this weekend.

The original England blueprint for their entire four-game Summer Nations Series was for Farrell to be selected to play this Saturday against an Ireland team coached by his father Andy.

Although excluded from the match day 23, Farrell still travelled to Dublin with England on Thursday and he took part in the team’s Aviva Stadium captain’s run on Friday afternoon.

• Click here to read the full written decision from last Tuesday’s Owen Farrell disciplinary hearing