Outrage over Farrell's charity 'discount'

REACTION: There is an outpouring of outrage over the 'slap on the wrist' treatment meted out to England captain Owen Farrell.

The disciplinary hearing panel’s decision to reduce a ban from 10 weeks to five - based on various testimonials - has not gone down very well.

The Saracens flyhalf was handed the suspension on Tuesday for his red card offence in last Saturday’s Premiership contest with Wasps.

The panel deemed the high tackle on Charlie Atkinson “reckless and not intentional”, with panel chairman Mike Hamlin adding: “Testimonials provided by Mark McCall, Eddie Jones and the founders of a charity with which the player works very closely were of the highest quality.”

This resulted in the ban being halved to ‘five meaningful matches’, an outcome that has caused quite a stir on social media.

Many disgruntled people feel Farrell’s charity work was irrelevant when it came to dangerous play on a rugby field.

In a collision that left Atkinson unconscious, which many have branded as potentially “career-ending”, a mass of people felt any prior charity work should have had no bearing on the hearing decision.

The input of McCall and Jones, the respective Saracens and England head coaches of Farrell, was also questioned as it was in both of their interests to have the player’s ban reduced as much as possible.

(Reaction below video ...)