World Rugby’s successful appeal against a disciplinary committee’s decision to rescind a red card awarded to England captain Owen Farrell was crucial.

Given the financial strength of the Rugby Football Union, which governs English rugby, and the English-heavy leadership at World Rugby, there must have been some reluctance to do it. Especially as it was so close to the start of Rugby World Cup 2023.

But, in truth, World Rugby had no choice in the matter. They were compelled by several factors of their own making.

Cracking down on head injuries

Philosophically, they had to ensure that Farrell was punished in some way for yet another dangerous “tackle” with force to the head of an opposing player.

Farrell was red-carded in the match against Wales for smashing flank Taine Basham on the jaw with his shoulder, but the card was later rescinded.

The all-Australian independent judicial committee of Adam Casselden SC, John Langford and David Croft came to a different conclusion based on a technicality that apparently only they could see.

World Rugby, which has placed player safety at the centre of the sport, mainly because of pending lawsuits from former players, was compelled to act.

Promoting player safety and talking tough about sanctions against perpetrators of acts of foul play, and then turning a blind eye to a blatant miscarriage of justice, did not add up.

Integrity of the bunker

But, on a more practical level, World Rugby also had to protect the integrity of the recently established office of the Foul Play Review Officer (FPRO).

The FPRO is in a separate location, known colloquially as “the bunker”, free of influence from the crowd and other factors, with eight minutes to assess a yellow card and decide whether it needs to be upgraded to a red card.

This system is set to be used at Rugby World Cup 2023 after being trialled at the recent World Rugby U20 Championship, and during the Rugby Championship.

As a sport, rugby can sometimes be its own worst enemy, with myriad laws and grey areas within those laws. But the bunker is proving to be a sensible and streamlined way of not completely ruining a game with an incorrect red card, while also taking some of the burden off a referee in the heat of the moment.

Red cards almost always have a massive influence on a team, player or competition.

When Farrell’s red card, which the FPRO in the bunker issued after reviewing the initial yellow card decision by Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli, was overturned, the entire bunker system was compromised.

A further concern was the wording the initial committee that downgraded the red card used in their media statement.

“Unlike the Foul Play Review Officer, the Committee had the luxury of time to deliberate and consider, in private, the incident and the proper application of the Head Contact Process,” the statement reads.

“The Committee believes this is in contrast to the FPRO, who was required to make his decision in a matter of minutes without the benefit of all the additional material, including hearing from the player and his legal representative.”

This statement suggested the FPRO needed to consult legal counsel in-game to decide on an upgrade to a red card. It was ludicrous and also undermined the entire process – a process about to be implemented in France.

Bigger than one player

World Rugby took up the fight to have the decision overturned, however much it must have strained relations with Twickenham. This was bigger than one player and one nation, however, and, in the end, World Rugby won the appeal.

The England captain received a six-match ban, reduced to four on mitigation because of “the player’s acceptance of foul play, clear demonstration of remorse and his good character”.

It was odd considering this is now his fourth ban for similar offences. But that is a fight for another day.

Farrell will miss England’s opening two games of the Rugby World Cup 2023 against Argentina and Japan, as well as the warm-up against Fiji. He missed his team’s 29-10 defeat by Ireland on 19 August, which served as the first of his four-match suspension.

The hearing panel said the committee that initially overturned the red card was “manifestly wrong” in their verdict, as they did not consider that Farrell had not attempted to wrap his arms in the tackle, and therefore it was always illegal.

No mitigating circumstances could therefore be applied.

Though Farrell has still escaped lightly, the real victory was securing the sanctity of the bunker and the FPRO, which is almost certainly going to have a massive role to play in France over the next two months.

The wording of a statement from the panel that took on the appeal showed how the initial committee had undermined the FPRO.

“The failure to attempt to wrap was judged to be an important element of the FPRO report and had led to an upgrading of the referee’s yellow card to a red card during the match,” the statement read.

“As this element did not feature in the original decision, the Appeal Committee decided it was in the interests of justice to hear the case afresh on that key point alone.

“Following the review by the Appeal Committee of this key element, it was determined that the FPRO was correct in his decision leading to the red card. The Appeal Committee subsequently determined that the tackle was ‘always illegal’.

“When applying the terms of World Rugby’s Head Contact Process, no mitigation can be applied to a tackle that is ‘always illegal’. The Appeal Committee therefore considered that the Disciplinary Committee’s decision to downgrade the red card to a yellow card had been manifestly wrong.”

How does it work?

Referees will remain the lead decision-makers during matches but will now have the ability to refer any foul-play incident when a red card is not clear and obvious after two big-screen replays to the FPRO located in the bunker for formal review.

If the officiating team is unable to determine whether an incident warrants a red card, but does meet at least a yellow-card threshold, the referee will cross his or her arms, signalling a formal review. The player will leave the field for 10 minutes as per the current sin-bin laws.

The FPRO will then have up to eight minutes to review the incident using all footage produced by the independent host broadcaster (World Rugby) and technology, including Hawk-Eye split screen and zoom technology, to determine the outcome.

The FPRO will then communicate the decision back to the officials in the stadium. The referee will either uphold the yellow card and enable the player to return or award a red card, meaning the player stays off the field and is unable to be replaced.

All decisions will also be communicated via the big screen in stadiums for fans to hear the outcome. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.