Owen Farrell is clear to start the Six Nations Championship despite being handed a four-match ban for a dangerous tackle.
The England captain accepted he was guilty of foul play with his high hit on Gloucester’s Jack Clement but challenged that it met the threshold for a red card. The Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel thought differently and handed him a suspension - though bizarrely it only took in club games.
Farrell has been told he must miss Saracens' games against Lyon, Edinburgh, Bristol and Leicester - and he will be reinstated for the Leicester game if he completes the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme.
