‘The judicial system is broken’ – All Blacks great lashes out at ‘inconsistent’ punishments after Owen Farrell decision
England's Owen Farrell is shown a yellow card by referee Nika Amashukeli during the Rugby World Cup warm up match with Wales.
Former New Zealand international Mils Muliaina has been the latest person to come out and voice his opinion on the Owen Farrell situation.
Farrell was sent off in England’s Rugby World Cup warm-up against Wales on August 12 for a shoulder to the head of Taine Basham.
However, the Red Rose skipper had his red card downgraded by the independent panel on Tuesday, leading to much furore worldwide.
Appeal heard on Tuesday
World Rugby have since appealed the verdict with a final decision to be made on Tuesday, August 22.
The suspension of Tonga’s George Moala, who received a 10-week ban – mitigated down to five – also complicated matters.
The punishment of Moala in comparison to Farrell has led to accusations of tier two players being treated differently to those from tier one nations.
“This isn’t the fault of Owen Farrell, the judicial system is absolutely broken,” Muliaina said on The Breakdown.
“What a fantastic lawyer, he obviously got him off, but when we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of it, there’s been a yellow card and then the officials have upgraded it to a red. When that happens surely there’s going to be some weeks missed.
“Then you’ve got another incident there with Moala which is 10 weeks straight away – I’ve seen a lot worse than that.
“When is the appeal for this (incident)? Does he get to appeal this? I think they should. Why aren’t Tonga appealing it? Have they not got the resources like England has financially? Those are the questions lingering around.”
Vunipola red
After several days focused on Farrell, England then saw number eight Billy Vunipola sent off following a similar incident against Ireland on Saturday.
His shoulder connected with the head of Andrew Porter and the back-row, like his captain, will face a disciplinary hearing this week.
“The hard part now is that because of the backlash from it, Vunipola is going to (cop it); that’s what I reckon is going to happen,” Muliaina added.
“He’s going to be judged on what happened to Owen Farrell, so is he really going to get a fair hearing? He’s in a poor position going into it.
“And who is the panel? There are various panels and there’s not really one judicial system. If it’s northern hemisphere then it’s a southern hemisphere (panel) and vice versa.
“Where’s the system? What system are we actually using? And that’s perhaps why we are getting so many inconsistencies.”
READ MORE: Steve Borthwick calls for swift disciplinary verdict after Billy Vunipola red
