Rugby World Cup: England captain Owen Farrell available for start of World Cup after red card overturned

England's Owen Farrell was red-carded against Wales, but the decision has now been overturned. Photo / AP

Rugby players past and present have blown their lids at the decision to rescind Owen Farrell’s red card against Wales.

Farrell was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Taine Basham that was later upgraded to a red card in the second half of England’s 19-17 win at Twickenham on Saturday.

But at a disciplinary panel on Tuesday, a committee did not uphold the red card and the England skipper will be available for the start of the Rugby World Cup.

On the same day Farrell escaped sanction, Tongan centre George Moala was hit with a 10-week ban for a tip-tackle on Ben LeSage during a warm-up match against Canada.

The difference in outcomes between the decisions created an uproar on social media from players and fans alike.

Former New Zealand Sevens and current Tongan international Pita Ahki took to X, formerly Twitter, to vent his frustration.

“George Moala has a clear record and World Rugby has given him 10 weeks for a tip tackle?” Ahki wrote.

“This guy [Farrell] has had how many red cards and gets off clean? How? F*** this pisses me off.”

Former All Black Steven Luatua wrote on X: “No ban? What a joke.”

Tongan lock Sam Lousi said “tier two teams really do get treated differently”.

Meanwhile, one rugby fan wrote on X that the bias between tier one and two nations was “unreal”.

“Owen Farrell has had his red card for this vulgar ‘tackle’ overturned so he can play at the World Cup,” Ben Rogers wrote.

“If he played for any tier two nation, he’d have had the book thrown at him.”

Farrell appeared before an independent judicial committee via video link and denied the tackle was worthy of a red card while accepting he committed an act of foul play.

The committee said upgrading the offence to a red card was wrong because of the “sudden and significant change in direction from the ball carrier”.

“In the committee’s opinion,” it said, “this mitigation was sufficient to bring the player’s act of foul play below the red card threshold.”

The committee did not uphold the red card and said Farrell was free to play again immediately.

Farrell could have faced a mid-range sanction of a six-week suspension, which would have ruled him out of some of England’s pool-stage matches at the World Cup in France starting on September 8.

England’s opening game at the World Cup is against Argentina on September 9.

— with AP