England and Argentina are kicking ass. World Rugby is furiously taking down the names.
Owen Farrell has now been on the receiving end of two awful, head-high tackles in the Rugby World Cup.
Tokyo was the setting for an all-out war between England and Argentina in their Pool C encounter.
Having lost to France in their opener, Pumas head coach Mario Ledesma called this game his side’s ‘World Cup final’. Simply put, it was win or bust.
Argentina started well and went into a 3-0 lead before England went 5-3 ahead with a lineout maul that caused chaos and left space out wide for Jonny May to score in the corner.
After that, rugby went out the window for the next 20 minutes.
Players from both sides waded into one hell of a dust-up after a late tackle riled up the English forwards. There was another flare-up when, justifiably, the English players called on referee Nigel Owens to get his fourth official to look back on a Tomás Lavanini smack on Owen Farrell.
The replays did not look good for the Argentine lock, who is off to Leicester Tigers after the tournament, and Owens was left with no option but to flash his red card.
18: Red Card!
"Clear foul play, clear contact to the head. I am not seeing enough mitigation"
Argentina are down to 14 as Tomas Lavanini is sent off for a high tackle on Owen Farrell.
LIVE now on eir sport 1! #RWC2019 #ENGvARG pic.twitter.com/JVNY8Ws9MQ
— eir Sport (@eirSport) October 5, 2019
Farrell did check his run but did not dip enough for Lavanini to get away with just a yellow. Owens told him:
“You were always high. You were leading with the shoulder… It’s a shoulder to the head with a high degree of danger. Red card.”
Farrell, who missed his conversion after the May try, then missed the resulting penalty and erred with another two conversion attempts before half-time. It is a wonder in itself that he was able to play on after shipping such a brutal blow.
The Saracens man was also on the receiving end of a high, red-card tackle from the USA’s John Quill in England’s second win of the pool.
WATCH THE ENGLAND vs. ARGENTINA HIGHLIGHTS HERE:
