ENGLAND CAPTAIN OWEN Farrell said he was surprised to see team-mate Freddie Steward red-carded in the first half of his side’s defeat to Ireland in Dublin.
Steward was shown red by referee Jaco Peyper just before the break in Ireland’s Grand Slam-sealing 29-16 win.
The English fullback was involved in a nasty collision with opposite number Hugo Keenan, who didn’t return from his Head Injury Assessment.
Steward’s elbow smashed into Keenan’s head as the Irish fullback stooped to gather in a ball that team-mate Mack Hansen had lost forward onto the ground.
Peyper adjudicated that Steward’s actions were high-danger and that there had been no mitigation, so sent him off, meaning England had to play the entire second half with only 14 men. Ireland finished over the top of the English with three tries in the final quarter.
“I was surprised, if I’m honest,” said England skipper Farrell when asked about Steward’s red card.
“It’s not up to us, we don’t make the rules, we don’t put them in place, we don’t hear what goes on on the ref’s mic and the process they go through.
“That’s the decision they came to and we have to accept it.
“I thought the game was a brilliant contest, I thought it was a brilliant Test match. I thought the way we reacted after that red card was very good. We fought for each other and unfortunately we didn’t get on the right side of the result, which is very disappointing.
“The reaction to things that didn’t go our way, the card being one of them, was brilliant.”
England head coach Steve Borthwick opted against commenting on Peyper’s decision when directly asked about it twice post-match.
“To be honest, my thinking with the red card was more about being down to 14 men and what do we need to make from a tactical adjustment point of view,” said Borthwick.
“Whenever a referee goes through a disciplinary process like that, I’m thinking as a coach, ‘Right, what’s the significance?’ That’s where my head is.”
The topic of tackle height was raised with captain Farrell, but Borthwick cut across him.
“What was clear was that Freddie was not trying to make a tackle,” said Borthwick. “So if we want to talk about that, we’ll talk about tackle height.
“Right now, there will be a disciplinary procedure that happens and it’s not right for Owen or myself to be talking about the particularly incident. The decision happened and quite rightly, the England team respects the referee’s decisions.
“The players were magnificent on the pitch, respected the decision that happened, and talked about how we adapt thereafter.
“He wasn’t trying to make a tackle so it’s not about tackle height.”
