Farrell cleared to take on All Blacks

Owen Farrell has been cleared to face New Zealand on Saturday after avoiding disciplinary action for his 84th-minute tackle against South Africa.

World Rugby confirmed there were no citings from England’s 12-11 victory over the Springboks at Twickenham, with Farrell’s challenge on Andre Esterhuizen not meeting the red-card threshold.

The fly-half’s tackle was sent to the television match official but was deemed to be legal despite heavy impact from his shoulder.

“If you watch at full speed, he has a big run up on me and we both bounce off each other and end up on the floor,” Farrell said after the match.

“It’s hard to wrap your arms around when you’re both hitting each other at that much force, but I tried to.”

Meanwhile, South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus showed his bemusement at the judgment of referee Angus Gardner and TMO Olly Hodges.

“We’ll just have to adapt out tackling like that,” Erasmus sarcastically said afterwards, with the dominant Springboks denied a late penalty.

“If that’s the only way you can stop people and tackle like that, and it’s in the rules, then we should tackle like that.”

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