Owen Farrell breaks silence on suspension, admits he made 'mistake'

England captain Owen Farrell has broken his silence on his four-game suspension which followed his red card versus Wales on August 12.

The English out-half was initially freed to play on with immediate effect after an independent disciplinary committee initially decided that his shoulder-to-head connection with Taine Basham at Twickenham only merited a yellow card and should not have been upgraded on match day to red by the TMO bunker.

World Rugby appealed this decision and a separate disciplinary committee upheld the original red card verdict.

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The ensuing four-game ban means that Farrell must sit out his country’s opening two matches at the Rugby World Cup – this coming Saturday’s opener versus Argentina in Marseille and their second outing on September 17 against Japan in Nice – after already missing the August matches against Ireland and Fiji.

Farrell has now spoken publicly for the first time about the sanction, appearing at the England arrival media briefing on Monday in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage where he accepted he had made a mistake with the tackle and that he wasn’t going to moan about the ban.

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“We are always trying to get better, we are always trying to get better in every area of the game and obviously the defence and the tackle area is part of that,” he said when asked if the red-carded incident against Wales was a one-off or something technical that he needs to work harder on to rectify.

“I don’t want to be in that situation again, I know that. Mistakes happen, but I don’t want to sit here and talk about that at the minute, I want to talk about what the team has got coming up which is a massive game on Saturday in Marseille. That is the exciting bit for us.”

When did Farrell first sense that he could be trouble for the tackle on Basham? “I didn’t know at the time. I knew when it came on the big screen. But it is what it is. I have been banned. I accept that I have been banned and I am gutted not to be playing but I am trying to do everything for this team.

“I’m gutted not to be playing, I’m gutted not to be available. Especially a big game like this at the weekend. I have even always wanted to play at Stade Velodrome ever since watching the quarter-final in 2007.

“I am excited for the team now. There is a really good feeling with the World Cup starting and being out here now in France, I’m excited to play my role in that.

“It [the ban] is what it is. You don’t want to go back too far and I don’t want to be sat here talking about this now. I want to be talking about the weekend, but I made a mistake and I got banned for it in the end.

“I’m not going to sit here and moan about it now. I’m excited for this World Cup to start, I’m excited to see what this team can do and I’ll look forward to being available again.”

Was he upset by the disruption the two disciplinary hearings caused to his August preparations for the finals? “That’s not to talk about now, all that matters at this moment in time is Argentina on Saturday and how much this team is working hard to prepare for that.

GONE IN 14 SECONDS: England skipper Owen Farrell was put on the spot in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage on Monday when quizzed about the criticisms by Danny Cipriani about his "mafia" type leadership. #EnglandRugby #ENGvARG #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/pJZYjCBNb5

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 4, 2023

“I just want to help as much as I can. I want to be part of this team and help as much as I can. We have got a massive role to play this week, it’s not just the 15, it’s not just the 23. It’s the 33, especially during a World Cup.

“During a Six Nations you have a squad and the squad gets picked for the weekend and on Tuesday, Wednesday some of the lads go home. That is not the case here. We’re together the whole time. That 33 have a massive impact on how the squad feels so I am looking to play my part.

“Our base [Le Touquet] has got a good feel about it, it has got everything we need. It’s a brilliant place to prepare and this week has got a good feeling about the World Cup starting, the biggest tournament we could play in. We’re getting excited about being a part of that and getting the best out of ourselves. Everything points to Saturday.”

It was 16 years ago when Farrell’s father Andy, the current Ireland coach, played for England when the tournament was last staged in France. Did the teenage Farrell get to some of those 2007 matches?

“I went to the final, I went to the South Africa group game and went to the Tonga game. My mum came for the quarter-final in Marseille; she didn’t bring me. I wasn’t happy. I went to the semi as well I think.”