Monday 1 June 2015 15:20, UK
Bath Head Coach Mike Ford says Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell should have been sent off early on in the Aviva Premiership final at Twickenham.
Farrell was named man-of-the-match after playing a key role in Saracens’ 28-16 victory but Ford thought he should have been punished far more severely for a high tackle in just the second minute.
Farrell felled Bath full-back Anthony Watson with a swinging arm, leaving his England team mate dazed and in need of treatment.
Referee Wayne Barnes did award Bath a penalty for the incident but he took no further action against Farrell, who scored the first try of the match minutes later.
Watson, meanwhile, was still groggy, and left the field for good just after Farrell had opened the scoring.
Farrell’s tackle may attract the attention of the citing commissioner and, when asked if he thought the offence was worthy of a red card, Ford said: “I did”.
He added: “There's big concern to be honest and I've spoken to Wayne Barnes about it.
"It was an illegal challenge square on the nose and we lost one of our best players. The other guy stayed on and got man of the match.
"Wayne Barnes said he should have looked at it more closely on the TMO.
"I don't want to go on about it, that's rugby. Sometimes you get those decisions, sometimes you don't. It wasn't the reason we lost the game."
Watson was taken for a head injury assessment and Ford says the 21-year-old is OK.
“Anthony is good,” said Ford. “It's a head injury, but he's come round and he's fine.”
Farrell, who finished with an 18-point haul after adding two conversions and three penalties to his try, now faces an anxious wait to see if he is cited, knowing any suspension could disrupt his World Cup preparations.
The citing officer has 24 hours to lodge a complaint for the offence, which carries an entry point sanction of a two-week ban, a mid-range of six weeks, and a top-end of 10 weeks.
If Farrell is handed a suspension, he will be forced to miss some, or all, of England's World Cup warm-up fixtures against France - home and away - and Ireland.
Farrell said: "I feel bad that Anthony had to go off but there was no intent from me. There never would be in that situation, I'm not that kind of player.
"Things like this happen in rugby. I spoke to Anthony after the game, apologised, and told him there was no intent behind it. Obviously, he was pretty down.
"I said sorry because, intentionally or not, I still did it."
