"I think right across the sport we know we need to change,” Kevin Sinfield, England’s defence coach, stressed. It was January, and Owen Farrell had just been given a three-match suspension after making contact with the chin of Gloucester’s Jack Clement while playing for Saracens. “Owen fully accepts he needs to change and is willing to work extremely hard at it.”
And yet here we are again, with Farrell back in the disciplinary dock. As referee Nika Amashukeli looked up to the big screen on Saturday evening, the identity of the offending player caught few inside Twickenham by surprise. It was a clumsy, ugly collision, a shoulder directly into Taine Basham’s head with significant force. The decision to send off Farrell, after the officials progressed through the review process, was straightforward.
