Owen Farrell high tackle red card judgement exposes big problem ahead of Rugby World Cup

It's the decision that one advocate group says has "made a mockery" of player welfare concerns — and threatens to blow up at rugby union's flagship event.

England captain Owen Farrell will be free to play in his side's World Cup opener after having his red card for high contact rescinded.

But the leader of Progressive Rugby, an advocate group for players, said failure to uphold the ban was "astounding" and sent a dangerous message ahead of the upcoming Rugby World Cup.

John Fairclough said in a statement the decision "has made a mockery of World Rugby's claim that player welfare is the game's number one priority".

"Additionally, despite protestations in the judgement to the contrary, it has critically undermined the newly introduced bunker process before a global tournament and eroded confidence in the game's judicial process which is meant to help protect those playing the game," Professor Fairclough said.

Rugby's concussion shadow

Rugby union's problem — indeed all contact football's problem — regarding the ongoing impact of repeated concussions is not a new story, whether it be recreational players or pros.

Earlier this year, more than 200 former players launched a case in the High Court against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union, alleging that those governing bodies failed to take reasonable steps to protect players from injury caused by repetitive head knocks.

Concerns about concussion have, in part, led World Rugby to introduce increasingly serious sanctions against players who initiate head contact in matches.

Rugby Australia and World Rugby have agreed to pursue trials to lower tackle height in an attempt to reduce concussions, from the chest to below the sternum.

The policing of the rules has been strict as well.

New Wallabies skipper Will Skelton was sent off for a high shot while representing the traditionally invitational Barbarians team against England last year, becoming the first player in the history of the club to receive a red card  while in the black and white striped jersey.

Which is probably why the decision by a World Rugby panel to exonerate England's skipper of dangerous contact in a match between England and Wales has drawn such huge criticism.

"I'm not even sure Owen Farrell thought he was going to get away with it," former Scotland scrum half Andy Nicol told the BBC.

"For me, this goes to the heart of player welfare.

Red card explosion

A thug's game played by gentlemen is the old adage about rugby union — yet up until relatively recently, being sent off was relatively rare.

However, it is not a secret that the number of red cards being issued has gone up — significantly — in recent years.

The main driver for this has been the growing acknowledgement of the dangers posed by concussions and head trauma. 

In 2011 World Rugby, then the International Rugby Board, issued a memorandum on what constitutes a dangerous tackle.

A player must not tackle (or try to tackle) an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders. A tackle around the opponent's neck or head is dangerous play.

So far, so simple.

In 2015 a reminder was sent out about players hooking the neck of the ball carrier, i.e. don't do it.

A similar such clarification was issued in 2018, before a "decision-making framework for high tackles" was issued in May 2019.

Note, this was issued after the 2019 Six Nations — and it shows in the data.

In the four tournaments since that framework was adopted, 12 red cards have been issued in the past four years (60 total matches).

For context, there had only been five red cards issued in the previous 20 years across 300 matches since Italy joined the competition in 2000.

The Rugby Championship saw eight red cards issued between 2017 and 2022, with at least one red card per tournament in the immediate aftermath of the 2019 framework being released until a blank was drawn in this year's shortened 2023 edition.

The framework adopted by World Rugby has been refined in recent years but essentially it remains the same.

Unless there are mitigating factors, contact with the head in a dangerous manner has a starting point of a red card, with mitigating factors leading to that decision being downgraded to a yellow card.

To avoid lengthy on-field delays caused by referees watching replays of the incident on repeat, now players can be sent to the sin bin (a yellow card) while the video referee has a lengthier look.

If they judge there is no mitigation, that yellow card can be upgraded to a red card, which is where the incident involving England's skipper Owen Farrell comes in.

Owen Farrell's 'astounding' reprieve

Farrell was sent to the sin bin in last weekend's World Cup warm-up clash for making contact with the chin of Wales flanker Taine Basham — who left the field and played no further part in England's 19-17 win at Twickenham.

On-field referee Nika Amashukeli initially gave Farrell a yellow card and deferred the decision about whether the incident warranted a straight red card to the bunker system, where Brian MacNeice upgraded the card to red.

But in coming to its verdict, the panel claimed no criticism of the foul play review officer was being made given the time in which he had to review the incident and make a decision.

"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 panel said.

Farrell does have history.

He has already been sent to World Rugby's Coaching Intervention Panel, colloquially known as tackle school, after a brutal hit on Jack Clement of Gloucester in a Premiership match for Saracens which saw him hit with a four-match ban.

Attending tackle school meant his ban was reduced from four games to three and he was eligible to play in the Six Nations as a result.

So, given that history and a number of other incidents in his career, fans might have expected to see Farrell hit with another big ban — suggested to be six weeks — following this red card against Wales that would see him miss England's opening World Cup clash.

However, England's legal council argued that Basham was pushed into Farrell at the last second and, surprisingly for some, the all-Australian panel of experts agreed, saying it "was wrong, on the balance of probabilities, to upgrade the yellow card issued to the player to a red card".

Not everyone was convinced though.

Samoa flanker Steven Luatua posted on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account: "No ban? What a joke."

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones backs Farrell

Aside from the disciplinary panel, Farrell had another Australian in his corner —his former coach Eddie Jones.

Speaking to The Times, Jones said there was a small margin for error when players made tackles in real time.

"Owen's an aggressive player … the margin of error is so small, and what can look like a bad tackle can just be a slight error of judgement," Jones said.

"We want the game to be safer, but we've got to use our common sense."

"I would never like to see a player banned for a World Cup unless it was a piece of foul play that was massively intentional.

"When I was with England, Owen talked about tackle technique and what he could do to make his tackling less susceptible to the referee intervening. 

"When you see the actual time they have to make a decision, which is not like what you see on slow motion, it [the decision-making process] is problematic."

Jones previously said rugby's use of cards had gotten "out of control" following England's victory over the Wallabies in Brisbane in July last year, pointing to the multiple send-offs in Ireland's 23-12 win against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

New Zealand's Angus Ta'avao was sent off for a high tackle, leaving the hosts a player short for the majority of the match.

The now-Wallabies coach warned that the "most influential player" at the World Cup could well be the referee and how players adapt to the various calls.