Stuart Barnes:
Farrell ban is close to condoning violence.
Owen Farrell is a serial swinging arm; make that a serial swinging right arm. For Wednesday night’s disciplinary committee to come up with the verdict it did after at one time sentencing him to a three-week ban is distressing.
The verdict started well. Having upheld the opinion of the citing officer, they found Farrell guilty of “an act of foul play that warranted a red card”.
Do I think he was aiming for the head? Most definitely not but was it dangerous anyway; absolutely
It is hard to disagree with the next part of the judgment, either. Sanctions for foul play have three entry points. The lowest is two weeks, the mid-range begins at six weeks, the top end at ten. The appropriate entry is based on a number of assessments. Whether it was intentional, whether or not it caused injuries and whether or not it had any effect on the relevant match?
Sportingly, Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, said that the injury Farrell caused, a concussion that took Dan Robson, his scrum half, from the field of play, was not the reason for his side’s 24-17 defeat by Saracens in the European Champions Cup last weekend. Nobody likes a whingeing coach, although Young also described the incident as “a short arm to the head”. Ah, but was it an intentional short arm to the head? There the matter becomes contentious. There is no question that Robson was slipping as Farrell’s right arm swung in the scrum half’s direction.
Do I think he was aiming for the head? Most definitely not but was it dangerous anyway; absolutely. The accidental collision with the head was a sound reason for the low entry point ban of two weeks. Fair enough. But in rugby union’s quest for disciplinary justice, what came next is a joke. The committee added another week to the two-week sanction “as a deterrent in line with World Rugby’s memoranda regarding dangerous tackles”. Understandably World Rugby, the game’s governing body, wants to be seen to be as draconian as possible on the subject of dangerous play.
A two-week ban means that Farrell misses the final two weeks of the regular season. Saracens have qualified for the Aviva Premiership play-offs. That third week, the one that shows that the disciplinary committee has some balls, would take him out of the Champions Cup final on May 14. That would be a blow to Saracens and Farrell, whose role this season has been hugely positive. That third week is a real “deterrent”, a statement of intent.
Or it would have been if not for what came next. After adding the extra week, the sanctions were “then reduced . . . by one week due to the player’s clean disciplinary record, good character and excellent conduct at the hearing”. He’s a tough lad is Owen, he can be brutal in his will to win, but few doubt the innate decency of the man off the field and I am sure his mum and dad have brought him up to mind his p’s and q’s in polite company. But character and how he conducts himself at a hearing should have nothing to do with the length of sentence.
What is relevant is the disciplinary record. Luckily Farrell has “a clean one”. I am not sure when rugby union’s disciplinary slates are wiped clean, but I am certain that the same referee who yellow-carded Farrell on Saturday, Romain Poite, flourished the same colour card when England played Australia as recently as the autumn.
Matt Giteau was laid out for a while, but unlike Robson was able to recover and serve up a hot dish of revenge with the match-clinching try. To remind myself of those events, I turned to YouTube. There it is: a dangerous challenge (this one off the ball) with the right arm and shoulder working in tandem to level the Australian. Is the World Cup so far in the past that such reckless play can be forgotten and overlooked?
Once you are on YouTube you might as well remind yourself of the injury that forced Anthony Watson from the field in last season’s Premiership final. It occurred within the first few minutes and, doubtless, the adrenaline of the final played a significant part, but whose right arm left the England wing prone and, like Robson, out of action? No need to guess.
While the two-week bans given to Joe Marler and Simon McIntyre for kicking out at an opponent were sensible reflections on acts that were born of stupidity and frustration, the verdict in the Farrell case could come back to haunt the disciplinary bodies.
Farrell may not set out to harm his fellow professionals, but the apparently reckless way in which he interprets the tackle means that the game appears to be out on the edge, close to condoning violence. It is true that Robson slipped, but this is the third time in less than a year that players have been left prone by Farrell tackles of excessive nature.
To reduce his ban and allow him to play in the European final because of his clean disciplinary nature is misleading at best, a deception at worst. Farrell’s lunge at Robson was not his finest moment, but Wednesday’s capitulation by the disciplinary panel before Richard Smith, the RFU’s QC, Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby, and Paul Gustard, the England and former Saracens defence coach, was infinitely worse for rugby union.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stuar ... -gpv2vhzmg