England captain Owen Farrell’s involvement in the upcoming World Cup was thrown into fresh doubt Thursday when World Rugby announced it would be appealing against the decision to overturn his red card in a warm-up match against Wales.

Farrell was sent off during England’s 19-17 win at Twickenham last weekend after the ‘bunker’ review system upgraded an initial yellow card to red after he made contact with a shoulder-led tackle to the head of Taine Basham.

The fly-half who has been suspended for previous incidents of dangerous tackling, was facing a six-week ban that could have ruled him out of the start of next month’s World Cup in France.

But an all-Australian disciplinary panel caused uproar on Tuesday by concluding the foul play review officer “was wrong, on the balance of probabilities, to upgrade the yellow card issued to the player to a red card.”

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