England captain or not, Farrell deserves a lengthy ban - Andy Goode
OPINION: Whether it’s the England captain, a Pacific Islander or a player making his Premiership debut in the dock, the hit that got Owen Farrell sent off should be punished with at least a 10-week ban.
World Rugby changed its high tackle sanction framework precisely for incidents like this and it’s the type of tackle that they are rightly trying very hard to eradicate from the game.
Farrell is upright, out of control and flies in with a swinging arm intended to put Charlie Atkinson into next week or take his head off. It’s not just a mistimed tackle, it’s a horrific looking hit. He’s completely blindsided him.
You can look at it from every angle possible in terms of the incident itself and the regulations and framework but there is just no mitigation whatsoever.
It was reckless, it was intentional and premeditated to a certain extent because you could see his eyes lining him up. Atkinson was also in a vulnerable position and wasn’t dipping. All in all, it was a horrible looking tackle.
We knew this was going to happen at some point because of Farrell’s tackle technique and we’ve been saying it for some time. Admittedly, he hasn’t got one as wrong as this before but nobody is coaching players to tackle like this any more and they’re trying to coach this sort of technique out of players.
Farrell is always trying to make big hits and he tackles high so he knows himself that he’s treading a very fine line. Player safety is rightly paramount nowadays, though, and he’s out of control more than he’s in control when he’s tackling like that.
It absolutely shouldn’t matter that he’s Owen Farrell or that he’s the England captain when it comes to the disciplinary hearing this week. That goes both ways. He shouldn’t be made an example of just because of who he is but there definitely shouldn’t be any special leniency either.
If it was a Pacific Islander who was the guilty party, you would definitely have people calling for and even expecting the biggest ban possible. That isn’t right at all and it’s important that all players are judged equally.
We’ve seen questionable lengths of bans before but can you imagine if Farrell gets an eight-week ban and is free to play again just in time for England’s rearranged final Six Nations game against Italy? That wouldn’t look good.
McCall: “I watched it live but have not watched it on the video. He was chasing his own kick & was desperate to make a tackle & clearly got it wrong…'He works really hard on all parts of his game & he has improved in that area.' pic.twitter.com/nNJT8WvFX9
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 5, 2020
The new eight-team tournament that is replacing the autumn internationals is due to begin in 10 weeks and even then would seem a bit soon for a return in my mind.
The entry point for a lower end dangerous tackle is two weeks and for mid-range it is six weeks but this is clearly a top end offence for me so the entry point is 10+ weeks.
When it comes to determining the length of the ban, it obviously shouldn’t matter who the player on the receiving end was any more than it matters who Owen Farrell is but Charlie Atkinson was at school last year and I do think that’s a relevant point to make.
I’m a parent and I watch that in the context of considering whether I’d want my daughters to play rugby. Other parents will be doing the same and saying ‘no chance’.
Farrell did put his arm up straight after the incident to acknowledge his guilt and waited by the side of the pitch to check Atkinson was ok but that is irrelevant when it comes to the disciplinary process.
I’m sure he will show remorse in the hearing and he doesn’t have a chequered past when it comes to bans so any suspension is likely to be halved. I think that’s a ludicrous aspect of the system to be honest but that’s the case for everyone.
If I’m honest, I think we will see a top-end sanction in the region of 16 weeks and when that is reduced by 50 per cent we will see Farrell back in time for England’s fixtures in the autumn.
The people making the decision will have to forget who he is and the incidents that people think he may have got away with in the past and view this as an isolated incident but this is the exact tackle that we want removing from the game.
The independent disciplinary panel will give its view this week but for me it can’t just be a three or four-week ban. If it is, then frankly, you’re not providing a deterrent and you’re not showing players that you can’t tackle like that anymore.
Comments on RugbyPass
Who's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
72 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
32 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
32 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
72 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
32 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
5 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
4 Go to comments