Nervy wait for red-carded England captain

DISCIPLINARY UPDATE: Saracens’ Owen Farrell will appear before an online disciplinary panel on Tuesday.

The flyhalf was shown a red card by referee Christophe Ridley in the 61st minute of Saturday’s match between Saracens and Wasps for a dangerous tackle on Wasps’ Charlie Atkinson.

Tuesday’s panel will comprise Mike Hamlin (chair), Gareth Graham and Leon Lloyd.

Farrell’s red card means he is set to miss the Champions Cup quarter-final with Leinster on September 19, one of the biggest matches since rugby’s restart.

After the match, director of rugby Mark McCall defended his star’s flawed tackling technique, stating:

“I watched it live but have not watched it on the video,” McCall said.

“He was chasing his own kick and was desperate to make a tackle and clearly got it wrong and he got his red card.

“It is what it is. He could easily have been out of the Leinster came for another reason – injury or whatever.

“He missed the last quarter-final of the Champions Cup because his wife was having their first child.

“We have got plenty of good backs at the club so we will just rearrange our back line a little bit and get on with it.”