World Rugby investigating outcome of Owen Farrell red card decision after shock reprieve

Owen Farrell may not yet be in the clear over his red card against Wales, pending a possible appeal from World Rugby. But in the sport’s battle to reduce harmful contact with the head, this week’s verdict has taken us back to square one, or possibly further. We might be at Ground Zero in working out what the hell to do next.

World Rugby has now received the full written decision from the independent judicial committee who overturned Farrell’s red card from last Saturday’s England-Wales friendly, and is reviewing it with a window of 48 hours until Friday in which to lodge an appeal.

It is understood the global governing body’s referee department was not happy with the committee’s decision and they were “investigating the outcome” – but whether this translates into an appeal, with all the obvious and dramatic implications of re-opening Farrell’s case, remains to be seen.

A rash of angry accusations on social media and elsewhere of the England captain “getting off” thanks to old-boy networks and legal cuteness has been countered by the likes of Eddie Jones, Shaun Edwards and Chris Ashton speaking up in support.

The committee’s full judgement, by the way, will not be made public, in a blow to understanding everything that has gone on.

Meanwhile World Rugby have another problem in deciding whether to persist with the new “bunker” system for reviewing foul play.

As a variation on football’s VAR, the bunker was aimed at relieving the pressure on the referee and TMO (television match official) in contentious incidents of contact with the head, and the plan was for it to be rolled out in full in the forthcoming World Cup.

Sadly, in its first high-profile case – Farrell’s shoulder to the head of Wales flanker Taine Basham – the new system failed.

The foul-play review officer, South Africa’s Marius van der Westhuizen, said “red”, and then three days later a judicial committee of three Australians – a Senior Counsel and two former international players – said “yellow”.

So we have moved no closer to harmony, and in fact probably regressed.

i understands Van der Westhuizen, who is an experienced TMO and former Test referee, looked at around eight different camera angles during the six minutes it took him to reach his decision and relay it to the on-field referee from his position in a broadcasters’ truck in the Twickenham car park.

This included noting the part played by England’s Jamie George just before the collision between Basham and Farrell – the intervention later relied on in court, as it were, when the committee cited it as mitigation in the “high degree of danger” required to reach a red-card verdict.

This gave rise to a pair of statements that are either jaw-droppingly at odds with each other, or illustrative of rugby’s inevitable tendency to divide opinion.

Van der Westhuizen told this newspaper ahead of the Farrell hearing that the bunker is “giving the ultimate luxury of time to make the best decision available”.

Then the judicial committee in the summary of their judgement said: “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.”

Farrell’s fly-half pal, George Ford, says accidents are bound to happen: “Things happen so much more quickly on the field than for people in the stands or watching on television.

“I noticed that again at the weekend – you are sat on the bench watching the game and you think you have a good picture of what is going on, and then you get out there in the middle and it’s 100 miles per hour from all directions.”

The fact is that if this had been a World Cup final, and a player was sent off erroneously, turning it over on Tuesday would be a fat lot of use.

We would be in the same territory as Freddie Steward being sent off against Ireland in March, and a few days later having the offence downgraded to a yellow card.

That difference of opinion helped push forward the bunker idea. But has the bunker now been debunked? Over to you, World Rugby.