England captain Owen Farrell is set to miss the start of the World Cup after being sent off in Saturday’s 19-17 victory over Wales at Twickenham.
Farrell’s yellow card for a shoulder-led tackle to the head of Taine Basham was upgraded to a red by the bunker review system, reducing the home side to 12 men because of the yellow cards shown to Freddie Steward and Ellis Genge.
England now face the prospect losing their captain for the critical opener against Argentina on September 9, with his availability for the remainder of the group stage to be determined by a disciplinary hearing next week.
Fixtures against Ireland and Fiji complete the warm-up schedule and, while those games would be included in a suspension, his outlook will be affected by being sanctioned for dangerous tackles in the past..
As recently as January he received a ban that was reduced to three games for attending tackle school.
“I’ll wait and see what comes of the disciplinary process,” head coach Steve Borthwick said.
“Right now it would be wrong for me to comment on an individual incident that would likely go through a disciplinary procedure. I’ll deal with the facts of the situation.”
England trailed 17-9 when Farrell departed yet remarkably they recovered to snatch victory through a Maro Itoje try and George Ford penalty.
“I am incredibly proud of the character that the players showed,” said Borthwick, who confirmed Jack Van Poortvliet suffered an ankle injury.
“To go down to 12 men and be resilient and fight your way through that situation is immense credit to them. They just keep going.
“And that’s something they’ve worked hard to instil in this group, which is not something you’d potentially have said in the past.”
Wales boss Warren Gatland felt it was the right call to upgrade Farrell’s yellow card to a red after seeing his replacement flanker Basham fail an HIA as a result of the tackle.
“It was the right decision on the day. Hopefully for Owen’s sake he doesn’t get too long a ban, you need someone like him in the game,” Gatland said.
“He’d be a big loss to England if he does have a lengthy ban. Given his previous I’m not too sure what’s going to happen with that, fingers crossed it’s not long for him.”
Steward was sent to the sin-bin for taking Josh Adams out in mid-air with a clumsy tackle and referee Nika Amashukeli awarded a penalty try after the England full-back tackled Liam Williams over the line.
“It was probably on the threshold of a yellow to a red. He’s taken him out high in the air,” Gatland said.
“Sometimes that decision, if it had been made by another official, might have been a red card. It was pretty close. It will be interesting to see what they come back with when they review it.”
Gatland revealed that Dewi Lake (knee) and Taine Plumtree (shoulder) are being assessed for the injuries they sustained in the first half.
The Wales boss admitted his disappointment at how Wales managed the final quarter when they let a 17-9 lead slip from their fingertips.
England and Saracens number eight Vunipola fined after arrest in Mallorca
England international Billy Vunipola has confirmed he has been fined after an incident which saw him arrested in Mallorca on Sunday, with his club Saracens set to launch an internal investigation.
On Monday, widespread reports claimed Vunipola had been tasered by Spanish police in the early hours of Sunday morning, with an altercation taking place after he left a club in Palma.
Saracens later confirmed they were aware of an incident and said they would deal with it internally.
The number eight, who was born in Australia but has represented England 75 times, later released a statement of his own via his club, denying that any violence took place and confirming the police investigation was now closed.
"I can confirm I was involved in an unfortunate misunderstanding when I was leaving a club in Mallorca on Sunday, which got out of hand," that statement read.
"Contrary to media reports, there was no violence, no fight and I did not threaten anybody at any stage, with bottles or chairs or anything else.
"I was charged with resisting the law and, following an 'express trial', I have paid a fine of €240. The Spanish police investigation is now closed, and I am flying back to the UK today.
"I will obviously cooperate with the Saracens internal process and unreservedly apologise for any inconvenience to all involved."
Fraser Brown ‘hugely proud’ of Scotland career as he announces rugby retirement
Fraser Brown declared himself “hugely proud” of his Scotland career as he announced his retirement from professional rugby.
The 34-year-old Glasgow hooker has not played since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament while playing for the World XV against the Barbarians at Twickenham last May and he has now conceded defeat in his bid to return to action.
Brown won 61 Scotland caps, with the first of them coming against Italy in 2013 and the last in the Six Nations match at home to Ireland in 2023, the same game incidentally in which Stuart Hogg won his final cap. The front-rower went to both the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.
“When you have a serious injury like I did with an ACL at the end of your career, it is always going to be hard to come back from,” Brown told Scottish Rugby.
“That probably made it a little easier to announce my retirement but it’s still a surreal and strange feeling.
“I’m hugely proud to have played so many times for Scotland during my career. To get one cap was great, but then my second one came against the All Blacks at Murrayfield which was such a special occasion.
“To reach 50 caps was a big moment as I had to deal with a lot of injuries throughout my career and to be part of the growth process of the team which has resulted in where they are now has been cool.”
At club level, Brown made 141 appearances for Glasgow after joining from Edinburgh in 2011.
The hooker helped them win the Guinness Pro12 in 2015 with victory over Munster in the final in Belfast, while his last appearance for Warriors proved to be last season’s Challenge Cup final defeat by Toulon in Dublin.
Glasgow head coach Franco Smith paid tribute to Brown, saying: “Fraser is the epitome of a modern professional and someone who should serve as a role model to any young player starting their journey.
“The respect with which he is held, not only within the Glasgow Warriors community but within the wider rugby family, should serve to underline the achievements he has earned throughout his career and the manner in which he has achieved them.
“His work ethic and determination to bring the best out of the people and players around him has been clear to all throughout his career.
“I wish him the very best for whatever comes next and I know he will apply that same work ethic and determination that made him one of this club’s most distinguished Warriors.”
Brown becomes the second experienced Scotland front-rower to announce his retirement in the space of a month after Edinburgh prop WP Nel recently revealed he would be hanging his boots up at the end of this season.
England tap into knowledge of Brian Ashton to play entertaining brand of rugby
England have been tapping into the knowledge of veteran attack guru Brian Ashton to achieve their aim of filling Twickenham.
The Red Roses ran in 14 tries in an 88-10 victory over Ireland that places them on the brink of claiming a sixth consecutive Guinness Women’s Six Nations title when they face France on Saturday.
A thrilling attacking performance before a 48,778 crowd was born out of the belief that in order to play in front of a full house of Twickenham at next year’s home World Cup, they must play appealing rugby.
And helping them achieve that aim is Ashton, a former England men’s head coach regarded as a visionary in the game whose expertise has been enlisted by Red Roses boss John Mitchell.
“Brian makes us ask questions. ‘If this is the picture, what is the easiest way that you can take the wins?’” said Dow, who ran in a hat-trick against Ireland.
“I do think it is about asking those questions and having Brian Ashton available throughout the week…I absolutely adore the man.
“The way he phrases things almost makes you re-think the philosophy of rugby. I think in the English brand the philosophy is ‘let’s kick to the corner, let’s take the territory’. But is that the philosophy of all rugby? Can we expand that?
“At the end of the day, professional rugby is a business in its own way. We need to be proving to the whole of England that we can play an exciting brand of rugby.”
While England march on by overwhelming the opposition in front of them, Ireland’s blowout highlights the gulf in class in the women’s game and affects the credibility of the Six Nations.
The Red Roses have accumulated 228 points after four rounds and France are the only European team capable of taking the wind out of their sails when the rivals clash in Bordeaux.
“I 100 per cent think teams will catch up and as much as we may be on top now, it is on us to try and work to keep that place and demand more from ourselves,” Dow said.
“Because as much as we’d love the game to grow, we want to keep the gap ourselves and continue to prove that we can be the best.”
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