Six Nations statement: Why the Owen Farrell red card was rescinded

The Six Nations have issued a statement explaining the decision by an independent disciplinary hearing to free the red-carded Owen Farrell to play again with immediate effect. There were grave fears that the England skipper could be banned for up to six matches following last Saturday’s incident with Wales’ Taine Basham at Twickenham.

Farrell was initially given a yellow card but was soon told while sitting in the sin bin that the sanction was being upgraded to a red card following review by the TMO bunker.

However, rather than England having to deal with their captain being unavailable for the start of their Rugby World Cup campaign on September 9 versus Argentina in Marseille, he has instead been cleared to play and is available for selection for this Saturday’s Summer Nations Series game away to Ireland in Dublin.

A statement following the three-and-a-half hour judicial hearing read: “England fly-half Owen Farrell appeared before an independent judicial committee via video link having received a red card for an act of foul play contrary to law 9.13 (a player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously; dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders) in the Summer Nations Series match between England and Wales on Saturday, August 12.

“The independent judicial committee consisting of Adam Casselden (SC, chair), John Langford and David Croft (all from Australia) heard the case, considering all the available evidence and submissions from the player and his representative. The player acknowledged that whilst he had committed an act of foul play, he denied that the act was worthy of a red card.

“After reviewing all the evidence, questioning the player in detail and hearing submissions from the player’s representative, the committee concluded that the foul play review officer was wrong on the balance of probabilities to upgrade the yellow card issued to the player to a red card.

“The committee determined, when applying World Rugby’s head contact process, that mitigation should be applied to the high degree of danger found by the foul play review officer. The committee found that a late change in dynamics due to England No2’s interaction [Jamie George] in the contact area brought about a sudden and significant change in direction from the ball carrier.

“In the committee’s opinion, this mitigation was sufficient to bring the player’s act of foul play below the red card threshold. The committee believes it is important to record that no criticism is made of the foul play review officer nor would any be warranted.

“Unlike the foul play review officer, the committee had the luxury of time to deliberate and consider, in private, the incident and the proper application of the head contact process.

“The committee believes this is in contrast to the foul play review officer, who was required to make his decision in a matter of minutes without the benefit of all the additional material including hearing from the player and his legal representative.

“On that basis, the committee did not uphold the red card and the player is free to play again immediately.”