BOMBSHELL: Owen Farrell sees red card overturned

Owen Farrell was sent off in the World Cup warm-up win over Wales on Saturday for a shoulder-led tackle to the head of Wales replacement Taine Basham.

Initially the incident saw him receive a yellow card, but this was soon upgraded to a red by the newly-introduced bunker review system.

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Immediately afterwards, many pundits predicted that he could be set to miss a large part of the World Cup, with a lengthy ban expected for yet another apparent act of foul play.

However, it has now emerged that Farrell has been CLEARED completely and is free to play.

The disciplinary panel’s view was that it was not a red card, apparently because Jamie George pushed Basham into the collision.

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🚨BREAKING🚨

Owen Farrell cleared to play IMMEDIATELY following his red card v Wales on Saturday.

The Foul Play Review Officer is adjudged not to have introduced mitigation for the actions of England #2 in contact, which led to a sudden change in direction by the ball carrier.

— Joe Harvey (@joeharvey34) August 15, 2023

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/t0CwlASKHT

— Thala Msutu (@ThalaMsutu77) August 15, 2023

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Farrell has been someone that Springbok supporters love to hate, primarily as a result of a controversial incident when the Boks and England went head to head at Twickenham in 2018.

On that occasion, Farrell executed a dangerous no-arms tackle on Andre Esterhuizen, but despite it seeming that a penalty would be awarded to allow the Boks a potential match-winning shot at goal, the on-field officials ultimately decided that it was a fair hit.

Farrell celebrated wildly when the decision was made, while he has become increasingly well known for making similarly dangerous tackles.

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You can watch the incident involving Farrell below:

This should be a six week ban with no mitigation ruling Owen Farrell out of the #RWC2023 pool stages.

We will see what the disciplinary say…
pic.twitter.com/y0Tb0OO0b0

— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) August 12, 2023

My lord.. beggars belief you’d set yourself for a tackle like that in today’s game.. gotta love Bigger giving it to him, doesn’t matter who you are that was a cheap shot https://t.co/6BhJfAeuK8

— Gordon D'Arcy (@Gordonwdarcy) August 12, 2023

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