Borthwick hits out at ‘personal attacks’ against Farrell ahead of Rugby World Cup
Steve Borthwick believes Owen Farrell has been the target of “personal attacks” as England’s captain once again confronts the possibility of missing the start of the World Cup.The England coach has been forced to defend his star, who must face rugby’s judiciary for the second time in a week after World Rugby appealed against the decision to rescind his red card for a dangerous tackle on Wales’ Taine Basham last weekend.Borthwick had intended to select Farrell for the clash against Ireland on Saturday 19 August but revised that plan amid the furious outcry over the original disciplinary hearing’s failure to impose a suspension.
Transcript
00:00 We all feel when one of our group has received an end of such personal attacks, we all feel it.
00:09 Unfortunately, given the disruption to his week, the intrusion in terms of his preparation,
00:15 I made a decision to pull him out of the team that he would otherwise have led this weekend.
00:19 The situation is one I find really disappointing.
00:25 We thought we had reached a conclusion to this matter on Tuesday.
00:31 It had an impact in terms of disruption for this week.
00:34 Now, it's going to be ongoing into next test week.
00:40 The situation with the England team and Owen in particular seems to be amplified.
00:48 The commentary around it seems to move from a issue around the tackle to personal attacks on the character of the man, which I think is just wrong.
01:01 I think Owen has handled himself through this process in a really respectful manner.
01:06 We've respected the process and thought we'd reached the conclusion of it.
01:10 We will continue to respect the process and the decision that is reached.