SEE | Owen Farrell Faces Lengthy Ban After Another Terror Entry

Owen Farrell of the Saracens appears dejected after being sent off during the Premiership Rugby match against Wasps at Allianz Park on September 5, 2020.

England pattern Owen farrell could be ruled out for the Saracens’ European Cup quarter-finals against Leinster after he was sent off for a dangerous tackle in a Premiership game on Saturday.

Scores were on the same level at the one hour mark at the Saracens’ Allianz Park stadium in north London when half the fly was ruled out by a high impact on Wasps teenager Charlie Atkinson.

The 18-year-old, in his second outing in the English top flight, was stranded on the pitch for several minutes before being helped out.

Wasps won the match 28-18, but the attention of the reigning English and European champions Saracens has long been focused on retaining the Champions Cup, given that they will be relegated at the end of the season for breach of the salary cap.

The 28-year-old Farrell immediately expressed his remorse, but referee Christophe Ridley had no choice but to show the red card after the arm of the match connected with Atkinson’s head.

While the Saracens’ salary cap violations are purely a Premiership matter, disciplinary penalties in a rugby union tournament are traditionally applied in all competitions and Farrell could miss the round of 16 clash against the Irish province of Leinster on September 19.

“I saw it live but I didn’t see it on video,” Saracens rugby director Mark McCall said. “He was chasing his own kick and was desperate to make a tackle and clearly he screwed up and got his red card.”

The former Ireland international added: “It is what it is. He could easily have been out of Leinster’s game for another reason, injury or whatever.”

“He missed the last quarterfinals of the Champions Cup because his wife was going to have their first child. We have a lot of good backs at the club, so we will reorganize our bottom line a bit and move on.”

“He works very hard in all parts of his game and has improved in that area.

“Today’s incident was a little different because he was chasing a kick and trying to make a difference for his team. We hope the player he hit is okay.”

The tackling technique of Farrell, England’s captain in last year’s Rugby World Cup final loss to South Africa in Japan, has long been a controversial topic.

In November 2018, Farrell, while playing for England, escaped any penalty for a shoulder load to South African Andre Esterhuizen when, with 80 minutes left, a penalty would have given the Springboks a chance to kick a goal in a match they lost 12. -11.

Three weeks later, Farrell’s armless tackle on Izack Rodda also went unpunished in the win over Australia, with the Wallabies furious that they were not awarded a penalty.