Autumn Internationals

[LE18]

I have seen him do the same tackle on previous occasions

I asked earlier if Farrell was susceptible to receiving yellow/red cards or a particularly high penalty count. I don't believe it was answered. Unless there is evidence to the contrary I'd suggest Farrell gets it mostly right.

He certainly got away with it this time, I'm not convinced he got it right.

[BigDan50]

LE18, he got it right as the match officials, TMO & citing officer sad he got it right, it was a great tackle.

[ellis9]

LE18, he got it right as the match officials, TMO & citing officer sad he got it right, it was a great tackle.

Actually, the citing officer didn't believe it was a red card. Therefore, it could have been a penalty and also a yellow card.

[TigerLT]

LE18, he got it right as the match officials, TMO & citing officer sad he got it right, it was a great tackle.

Actually, the citing officer didn't believe it was a red card. Therefore, it could have been a penalty and also a yellow card.

No contact with the head, an attempt to wrap. Correct decision made.

Conjecture to believe the citing officer thought it was a penalty or a yellow.

If it was a penalty, I’m sure a referee with 7 years experience in the test match arena, along with his team, would have come to that decision on the day. They didn’t. Because it was a legal hit.

[Chobbsy]

LE18, he got it right as the match officials, TMO & citing officer sad he got it right, it was a great tackle.

ditto

[Chobbsy]

LE18, he got it right as the match officials, TMO & citing officer sad he got it right, it was a great tackle.

Actually, the citing officer didn't believe it was a red card. Therefore, it could have been a penalty and also a yellow card.

but it wasn't was it

[strawclearer]

LE18, he got it right as the match officials, TMO & citing officer sad he got it right, it was a great tackle.

Actually, the citing officer didn't believe it was a red card. Therefore, it could have been a penalty and also a yellow card.

but it wasn't was it

In the closely fought local cricket match, the bowler rapped the batsman's pads and appealed for a very dubious LBW. To the batsman's incredulity, the Umpire raised his finger - out!

As he passed the Umpire on his way back to the pavilion, the batsman hissed through gritted teeth "That was never out!"

With a smile, the Umpire retorted "I'm the Umpire. I'm in charge. Look in the local paper on Monday!"

"Really?" replied the batsman "I'm the Editor - you look in the paper Monday!"

[BFG]

In my opinion, Farrell's tackle was a deliberate shoulder charge, no arms, to the players chest/shoulder area, delivered with such force as to hurt. Farrell did not wrap his arms, he then tried to convince others by belatedly appearing to do so, and initially when he landed on the floor, he tried to fain injury, before realising his error and jumped to his feet. He was very very lucky ! This is my opinion from the recording I saw. (I have seen him do the same tackle on previous occasions).

If you look at the angle of the tackle though then it's easy to understand.
Farrell plays full on and it's what sets him apart, some see it as malice and others as just a desire to win.
The South African is trying to go outside and then comes slightly back, Farrell's head is arguably caught on the wrong side, the right shoulder makes contact and the South African is bounced making the arm wrap look clumsy.
It's the type of coming together of ball carrier and tackler that is 50/50.
There wasn't enough wrong to penalise in my opinion and obviously the officials thought so, it was close.

[biffer]

In my opinion, Farrell's tackle was a deliberate shoulder charge, no arms, to the players chest/shoulder area, delivered with such force as to hurt. Farrell did not wrap his arms, he then tried to convince others by belatedly appearing to do so, and initially when he landed on the floor, he tried to fain injury, before realising his error and jumped to his feet. He was very very lucky ! This is my opinion from the recording I saw. (I have seen him do the same tackle on previous occasions).

If you look at the angle of the tackle though then it's easy to understand.
Farrell plays full on and it's what sets him apart, some see it as malice and others as just a desire to win.
The South African is trying to go outside and then comes slightly back, Farrell's head is arguably caught on the wrong side, the right shoulder makes contact and the South African is bounced making the arm wrap look clumsy.
It's the type of coming together of ball carrier and tackler that is 50/50.
There wasn't enough wrong to penalise in my opinion and obviously the officials thought so, it was close.

It's the unnatural position of trying to wrap with one arm while deliberately tucking the other arm in that makes me think it should have been a pen.

This will come back to bite England one day. He'll get called for it at a critical moment in a big game

[BFG]

In my opinion, Farrell's tackle was a deliberate shoulder charge, no arms, to the players chest/shoulder area, delivered with such force as to hurt. Farrell did not wrap his arms, he then tried to convince others by belatedly appearing to do so, and initially when he landed on the floor, he tried to fain injury, before realising his error and jumped to his feet. He was very very lucky ! This is my opinion from the recording I saw. (I have seen him do the same tackle on previous occasions).

If you look at the angle of the tackle though then it's easy to understand.
Farrell plays full on and it's what sets him apart, some see it as malice and others as just a desire to win.
The South African is trying to go outside and then comes slightly back, Farrell's head is arguably caught on the wrong side, the right shoulder makes contact and the South African is bounced making the arm wrap look clumsy.
It's the type of coming together of ball carrier and tackler that is 50/50.
There wasn't enough wrong to penalise in my opinion and obviously the officials thought so, it was close.

It's the unnatural position of trying to wrap with one arm while deliberately tucking the other arm in that makes me think it should have been a pen.

This will come back to bite England one day. He'll get called for it at a critical moment in a big game

The change in angles between the ball carrier and tackler play an important role in how awkward the tackle ends up looking.
If the South African player continues his outside arc then Farrell would've been anticipating diving at the waist with his head on the correct side.
I've probably seen similar thousands of times to be honest.

[northerntiger]

In my opinion, Farrell's tackle was a deliberate shoulder charge, no arms, to the players chest/shoulder area, delivered with such force as to hurt. Farrell did not wrap his arms, he then tried to convince others by belatedly appearing to do so, and initially when he landed on the floor, he tried to fain injury, before realising his error and jumped to his feet. He was very very lucky ! This is my opinion from the recording I saw. (I have seen him do the same tackle on previous occasions).

If you look at the angle of the tackle though then it's easy to understand.
Farrell plays full on and it's what sets him apart, some see it as malice and others as just a desire to win.
The South African is trying to go outside and then comes slightly back, Farrell's head is arguably caught on the wrong side, the right shoulder makes contact and the South African is bounced making the arm wrap look clumsy.
It's the type of coming together of ball carrier and tackler that is 50/50.
There wasn't enough wrong to penalise in my opinion and obviously the officials thought so, it was close.

It's the unnatural position of trying to wrap with one arm while deliberately tucking the other arm in that makes me think it should have been a pen.

This will come back to bite England one day. He'll get called for it at a critical moment in a big game

Why? As far as I'm aware he has never been carded for a high tackle.

[JP14]

He might still get penalised for it though.

[northerntiger]

As might any player!!

[biffer]

If you look at the angle of the tackle though then it's easy to understand.
Farrell plays full on and it's what sets him apart, some see it as malice and others as just a desire to win.
The South African is trying to go outside and then comes slightly back, Farrell's head is arguably caught on the wrong side, the right shoulder makes contact and the South African is bounced making the arm wrap look clumsy.
It's the type of coming together of ball carrier and tackler that is 50/50.
There wasn't enough wrong to penalise in my opinion and obviously the officials thought so, it was close.

It's the unnatural position of trying to wrap with one arm while deliberately tucking the other arm in that makes me think it should have been a pen.

This will come back to bite England one day. He'll get called for it at a critical moment in a big game

Why? As far as I'm aware he has never been carded for a high tackle.

I'm not talking about high. I'm talking about his tendency to look for the 'hit'. Slight bit of mistiming in the wrong situation or a different interpretation to Saturday and he could end up costing England an important game.

[Soggypitch]

My take on this is that the tackle was within the new laws, just. The ref, linos and TMO all agreed and not surprisingly in those circumstances, the citing officer didn't cite!

However what I have found really annoying has been the criticism Farrell has received from supposed England fans.

In the same circumstances can you imagine the Kiwi, Welsh, Aussie, Scottish, Irish, South African or French press and public having this debate and a large section of them criticising the player involved? No chance! They would quite rightly be incredibly supportive and take no truck whatsoever from other nations moaning about it.

On the other hand large sections of our press seem to delight in not supporting England/English players. Stuart Barnes in particular relishes criticising all things England, and I really do think he has found an Irish Grandmother as it were, given his devotion to the men in green! But he's not the only one and likewise many ordinary "fans" seem to relish overly analysing the situation and not supporting the England player. In my opinion that makes them not proper supporters, there's a reason we are called "supporters"!!

I'm not saying we should all become brainless fans who never criticise the team/coaches/players, that's part of the right/fun of being a supporter, BUT in this particular situation of Farrell with the ref/tmo etc all deeming the tackle fair, to take a contrary view is essentially disloyal, when Farrell is taking the inevitable stick from all the other nations.

Farrell in particular is I believe our one world class player (ok Billy V when fit), in terms of his general play, kicking, temperament and leadership, he deserves the full support of all genuine England fans!!!