Owen Farrell: England team-mates will 'get around' captain after Wales red card - George Ford
- Published
Owen Farrell (right) was initially sent to the sin-bin before his yellow card was upgraded to a red following an off-field review
Rugby World Cup 2023 |
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Host nation: France Dates: 8 September-28 October |
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The England squad will "get around" captain Owen Farrell "whatever the outcome" of his red card against Wales, says fellow fly-half George Ford.
Farrell could potentially miss the start of the World Cup as a result of his dismissal for a high tackle on Taine Basham in the win at Twickenham.
England's first World Cup match is against Argentina on 9 September.
"He is huge for us, he is the captain and the way he drives things every day is unbelievable," said Ford.
He told Amazon Prime: "We will get around him whatever the situation and whatever the outcome is."
Farrell became the first England player to have a yellow card upgraded to a red by the "bunker" review system which is being used in the summer internationals.
His availability for the pool stage of the World Cup will be determined when he appears before a video disciplinary hearing on Tuesday to find out the length of his suspension.
The mid-range sanction for a dangerous tackle is six games and Farrell received a three-match ban for the same offence in January.
He was suspended for five games in 2020 and also served a two-match ban in 2016.
The England captain nearly missed the opening round of the Six Nations in February following a dangerous tackle on Gloucester's Jack Clement while playing for Saracens.
His four-week ban was reduced to three weeks on completion of the World Rugby coaching intervention programme, allowing him to face Scotland on that occasion.
England have warm-up matches against Ireland in Dublin (19 August) and Fiji at Twickenham (26 August) before they depart for France.
"Whoever has the opportunity to play next week against Ireland, they'll put their best foot forward and then going into the World Cup it will be the same," added Sale's Ford.
"One thing's for sure - Steve Borthwick and the coaches will have the best plan going into the game [against Ireland next week]."
'There's a group of players that don't stop'
Maro Itoje scored the try which got England back into the game against Wales
Borthwick said he will have to "wait and see what happens" with regards to Farrell's potential absence and the extent of scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet's ankle injury. The Leicester half-back appeared on crutches at full-time following England's 19-17 victory.
"We don't know exact scenarios yet, one will be a potential disciplinary hearing, one will get scans and be assessed," Borthwick said.
"Right now it would be wrong of me to comment on an individual incident [Farrell's tackle] that's likely to go through a disciplinary procedure."
The 31-year-old previously received a five-game suspension for a high tackle on Wasps replacement full-back Charlie Atkinson in 2020.
Former England wing Topsy Ojo believes that despite Farrell's disciplinary record, he is "not a dirty player" but added there have been "too many instances" where he has been "a bit too close" to the line.
"Ultimately there is a ban coming, the question is how long is it going to be for," said Ojo, working as a pundit for Amazon Prime.
"There is not enough mitigation and it is a red card, he is going to be out for a while. The hope will be it doesn't rule him out indefinitely through the World Cup."
England came from eight points behind in the second half and played for a spell with 12 men, before fighting back to avenge their loss in Cardiff seven days earlier.
Borthwick said: "I'm incredibly proud of the character the players showed. To go down to 12 men and be resilient and fight their way through that situation is immense credit to them.
"There's a group of players that don't stop, they just keep going. That's something they've worked hard to instil in this group.
"Ultimately we don't want to be in that situation, we want 15 on the pitch, but they dealt with the situation and came through it well."