Ireland's head coach, Andy Farrell, has come to the defense of his son, Owen Farrell, who recently found himself embroiled in a media storm surrounding his tackling technique.
Owen Farrell, who serves as the England captain and plays as the country's starting out-half, initially received a yellow card for a shoulder-led tackle to the head of Wales' Taine Basham during their game last week. However, the bunker review system subsequently upgraded the sanction to a red card.
Despite expectations that the England captain might face a ban preventing his participation at the beginning of the World Cup, a disciplinary hearing reached a different verdict. The offense was deemed deserving of a sin-binning only, thus overturning any potential ban.
It has also come to light that World Rugby is set to review the decision to overturn the red card in the coming days.
Several pundits, including Keith Wood and Alan Quinlan, have offered their strong opinions on the situation. Wood described Farrell's tackle as s**t, while Quinlan expressed his belief that there will be backlash over the decision to rescind the red card.
England will to face Ireland this Saturday in Dublin for a warm-up game. However, due to the ongoing saga, Farrell has been excluded from the squad and replaced by George Ford.
"Absolutely disgusting" 😡
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell on the debate surrounding his son, Owen's disciplinary process for a dangerous tackle 💬 pic.twitter.com/6llT57Nvdw— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 17, 2023
During a press conference on Thursday, Andy Farrell Senior was questioned about the media storm surrounding his son. He responded by saying, "What could I say? I don't know. I might even bring his mother up here for an interview, and then you'll see the human side of the nonsense that's unfolding, you know?"
"Perhaps I could even have his wife write a book about it, so you can truly grasp the impact it's having not just on the professional player, but also on the families and the human aspect that accompanies it."
When asked about his thoughts on his son, the Ireland head coach described the entire ordeal as a 'circus' and labeled it 'disgusting.'
"So what does that really matter, you know?" he added.
"You know, I don’t normally say too much because of that reason about my son.
"What I probably would say at this moment in time is that the circus that has gone around all of this is absolutely disgusting - in my opinion, disgusting.
"And I suppose those people who have loved their time in the sun get a few more days to keep going at that."
Ireland will to play against England at 5.30 pm on Saturday.
Tickets for the game are still available on Ticketmaster.
