England Rugby’s poster boy, Owen Farrell, will finally bear the consequences of his poor tackle form, after being cited following the Saracens 19-16 win over Gloucester in the English Premiership.
The English Flyhalf has a history of getting away with dangerous, no-arms tackles. Even in the match, the referee, Karl Dickson, took no action.
The match TMO, Claire Hodnett, brought the incident to Dickson’s attention. But, because the incident happened five phases before the initial breakdown in play, the Ref showed zero interest in stopping the game to review the matter.
Replays shocked even the match commentators, who exclaimed that Farrell should receive a Red Card.
Watch: Farrell gets away with murder
Despite the obvious danger in the tackle, Farrell remained on the field. The 31-year-old would slot the match-winning drop goal at the death, just four minutes later. A heart-breaking end to the match for Gloucester.
As a Springbok fan, I can relate.
Les, we forget the tackle on Andre Esterhuizen in 2018. A controversial moment that led to a narrow 11-12 Springbok loss at Twickenham.
See Ultimate Rugby’s post from 2018:
BREAKING: Owen Farrell has not been cited for his tackle on Andre Esterhuizen with World Rugby confirming that there were no citings this weekend pic.twitter.com/1dVMEQE1pW
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) November 4, 2018
Here’s the video:
Owen Farrell en su recordado tackle “legal” sobre André Esterhuizen. Owenfarrelladas. pic.twitter.com/R7vcWKJlTg
— Borja Barba (@BorjaBarba) December 16, 2021
The incident proved that Rassie Erasmus has a sense of humour.
🤣 Rassie Erasmus shows André Esterhuizen how to deal with Owen Farrell next time they come head-to-head!
🛒 https://t.co/P5g9Pde4yV pic.twitter.com/KKAXE9CQRO
— ʀᴜɢʙʏ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴ 🏉 (@_RugbyHeaven) November 7, 2018
Cited, sealed and delivered
While his luck on the field still seems to be intact, the citing officer, James Hall, would not drop the ball like Karl Dickson.
Hall called Farrell to plead his case in front of a disciplinary panel. According to a ten-page written judgement, it wasn’t until well after the match that Farrell realised that he made contact with Jack Clement’s head.
“It was only when he got on the team bus to come home that he watched the clips and realised contact was made with the chin,” said the statement.
“When he realised, he contacted his opponent to apologise.”
Still, the panel upheld the four-week ban. They will reduce the sentence to three weeks, should the English 10 complete the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme.
Farrell will sit out the Saracens’ two Champions Cup pool matches, against Loyn and Edinburgh. He will also miss their Premiership encounter against the Bristol Bears.
He will, however, be available for England’s Six Nations opener should he graduate tackle school.
Wishing Owen Farrell the best of luck at tackle school pic.twitter.com/pOgDeGPNQT
— Graham Love (@glove931) January 11, 2023
It’s a mystery as to how Owen Farrell gets away with shouldering people in the face. His reputation for this is unmatched. Despite this, Farrell has only ever been red-carded once and cited twice.
