Ireland are set to take on England on Saturday in their penultimate World Cup warm-up game. The build-up to the game has been been dominated by the controversy over the Owen Farrell tackle against Wales last weekend.
The controversy, of course, comes after Owen Farrell had his yellow card upgraded to a red card for what was deemed a reckless high tackle. A disciplinary hearing reduced the red to a yellow. After much uproar, World Rugby appealed the ruling. The appeal will be heard Tuesday.
Owen Farrell Yellow Card 🟨
‘Bunker’ review system back into play.#ENGvWAL
Edit: Has been upgraded to red 🟥 pic.twitter.com/c26hwm9Skf— Darren (@SaffasRugby) August 12, 2023
READ ALSO: Nigel Owens Fears Owen Farrell Saga Sets Worrying Precedent
While the general consensus seems to be that Farrell's tackle is beyond worthy of a ban, some of the criticisms lobbied against him have gotten personal across the week. Farrell's own father Andy Farrell jumped to his defence and now Stephen Ferris has similarly criticised the reaction to Farrell's avoidance of a ban, when speaking to the Build-Up on Balls.ie this week.
Stephen Ferris defends Owen Farrell
While the Ulster man was clear about the danger of Farrell's actions, he certainly felt that the media circus around the incident was unnecessary and raised an interesting comparison between the Farrell and Sexton ban controversies:
I think everybody's opinion was pretty much the same that Owen Farrell's high tackle was reckless and his direct contact to the head, because he's had previous similar tackles with no wrapping he was going to receive a ban, you know maybe that could've been two or three games or they could have really tried to lay down the law.
But at the end of the day...they've come up to say that he's free to play and that his tackle deserved a yellow card and not a red card and that the referees on the day got the decision wrong. Now a few days after it everybody's saying how bad it is and that World Rugby needs to get involved and there needs to be a U turn on the decision.
That's all well and good but it now almost feels personal...people are telling him that he should never be playing rugby again and he's the captain of England and he's setting such a bad example...this guy has set a good example on the most part for World Rugby and putting English rugby on the map and winning Grand Slams for England and leading in his dads footsteps.
While Ferris admitted his shock that Farrell didn't receive a ban he thought it was time to move on saying people want the likes of Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell playing in the World Cup.
I was flabbergasted that he wasn't given a ban, however, to get stuck into him - and this isn't just the English media, it's the worldwide media that are absolutely crucifying him.
Everybody talks about mental health and everything, I'm sure it's having a pretty big impact on him as well and everybody forgets about that. Everybody thinks he's the bad guy and should be banned because he made a decision in a split second. I still stand over that he should've received a ban...I think it's nearly time that all this ground isn't dug up again.
We didn't want to see him (Sexton) get banned and miss the Rugby World Cup...we also want to see Owen Farrell playing in the Rugby World Cup, but should all that be taken out of it for one reckless tackle that didn't lead to an injury?
While Farrell is cleared to play pending the outcome of World Rugby's appeal, Steve Borthwick has opted not to include him in his matchday squad for England's encounter with Ireland - possibly a move to keep him out of the limelight on what's been a media-intensive week for the English star.
SEE ALSO: Rassie Erasmus Praises Andy Farrell For Handling Of Question About His Son
