Retired Ireland international Ian Madigan felt that British and Irish Lions hopeful Owen Farrell was “very lucky” to be only yellow carded for a tucked arm incident in the closing minutes of Racing 92’s EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final win at Connacht.   

The former England captain, whose tackle technique has often been the subject of criticism over the years, found himself the focus of a Saturday night foul play review in Galway with the clock stopped on 76:38.   

With his team 43-33 ahead, Farrell instigated a counter ruck on the Connacht 22 which initially resulted in referee Christophe Ridley awarding Racing a penalty. However, the official was soon asked by his TMO Aled Griffiths to head to the big screen and assess Farrell’s collision with Shane Jennings, the Irish team’s winger, at the breakdown.   

What was said by the officials about the Owen Farrell tucked arm tackle at Connacht

Here is the dialogue that unfolded between the match officials interspersed with the separate conversation that took place amongst the Premier Sports commentary team featuring Madigan, another retired Ireland player Gavin Duffy and broadcaster Mark Robson:   

TMO: I just want to make sure about a tucked arm by White 22.    

Madigan: I think this could be a red card. There is a lot of force behind this. I know there are moving parts of Jennings but…   

Duffy: We saw one in the previous game as well, Castres against Northampton. It’s just coming in with force and a little bit reckless, a tucked arm.   

Robson: Oh, it’s straight to the temple of Shane Jennings. There’s no wrap, there is force.  

Ridley: The palm (of the hand) is facing backwards. It is a tucked arm and it’s on the body, isn’t it?  

TMO: Body/neck, yeah.    

Ridley: And it’s No 10.   

TMO: 22 White.   

Ridley: It’s a yellow card.   

Robson: Yellow, right decision?   

Madigan: I think he is very lucky there. I think that initial contact is on the head. It’s a rush of blood to the head from that man there, Owen Farrell.   

Ridley (to Farrell while brandishing the yellow card): Your palm is facing backwards. It’s a shoulder charge.   

Madigan: What I would say is he is low. Jennings is moving around on the floor, but I didn’t like the look of that. 

Owen Farrell Owen Farrell’s tucked arm collides with Connacht’s Shane Jennings

A starter in last weekend’s round of 16 win at Perpignan, Farrell began quarter-final night at Connacht as a replacement before being called into the action on 47 minutes to take over at out-half from Dan Lancaster, son of Stuart who was sacked as the French club’s director of rugby earlier this year.      

Farrell’s fourth appearance since recovering from a late January injury setback began brightly with three involvements in the passage of play that resulted in a Nolann Le Garrec converted try that put Racing 34-28 ahead.   

That completed their successful comeback from the 5-21 deficit they faced following Wame Naituvi’s 13th-minute red card, and a 54th-minute drop goal from Farrell then had them 37-28 in front and in control.     

So influential was Farrell’s initial impact that TV pundit Madigan commented: “I’ll tell you what, Owen Farrell, when he came on Racing were still behind on the scoreboard. He has had maybe seven or eight involvements, all of which have pushed Racing further up the pitch.”  

With the countdown on to the May 8 Lions squad announcement in London by Andy Farrell, Owen would have travelled to Ireland looking to catch the eye of his dad, who was in the Galway crowd with his wife Colleen and other son Gabriel.   

Farrell’s contribution in helping Racing into a 10-point lead with time almost up was positive but his yellow-carded tucked arm left his team defending with 13 players for the closing three and a half minutes. The concession of a converted try cut the margin to three points with seconds remaining but Racing managed to hold on and seal a semi-final at Lyon. 

That match will be played the weekend before Farrell snr names the Australian-bound Lions squad that his son hopes to be included in even though he has not played Test rugby with England since the 2023 Rugby World Cup.     

Appearing on TV post-game, the 33-year-old was asked: “The old man was here. Was he just here to watch you or who else was he watching?” “You’ll have to ask him. My mum and brother came as well, so hopefully they were here to watch me,” he replied in an interview where the yellow card incident wasn’t mentioned.

The conversation instead dwelt on the Racing comeback and how Farrell was feeling now that he was back in the action following his injury-hit winter which included a November operation on a groin injury and media criticism about his limited impact at the club he joined last summer from Saracens.

 

“I’m getting there, getting there,” he said about his fitness. “It’s been a tough old year so far but I’m glad to be back on the pitch and hopefully getting back to playing well.”

On his team’s latest display, he added: “It felt good in the second half. Obviously, the first half was pretty disruptive for us and Connacht got into a great start but credit to our forwards, especially for getting us back into the game, throughout the game really, but with that wind in the second half, it felt good.

“A lot of driving mauls in that as well, they worked incredibly hard, and we got what we deserved because of that. I thought Dan did a really good job at 10; Nolann obviously at nine. We got caught a couple of times playing too much but as soon as we did, we learned from that mistake and got out of our half a bit better. It always helps playing behind a good pack and our pack certainly delivered.”

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/didnt-like-the-look-of-that-the-tucked-arm-verdict-on-owen-farrells-lions-audition-in-front-of-watching-dad-andy