England’s Billy Vunipola could miss the start of the World Cup after being sent off against Ireland – a week after Owen Farrell’s red card against Wales.
His initial yellow card for a shoulder-to-head challenge on Ireland prop Andrew Porter was upgraded to a red by the new bunker review system.
Vunipola and Farrell will now both face disciplinary hearings this week.
The Saracens forward was selected by Steve Borthwick as the only specialist number eight in his World Cup squad.
The low-range sanction for dangerous tackles is two matches with the mid-range ban up to six games. England have only one more warm-up game – against Fiji on 26 August – before the tournament.
England, who lost Saturday’s match at the Aviva Stadium 29-10, face Argentina on 9 September in their opening World Cup game.
Borthwick’s players have now received three red cards in their last four matches, with Freddie Steward being the last Englishman to be sent off at Aviva Stadium in the 2023 Six Nations.
Head coach Borthwick told Prime Video afterwards: “There’s going to be another week of disruption and it has now been amplified with Billy Vunipola.”
Harlequins’ Alex Dombrandt was left out of the 33-man squad for France and Borthwick was asked about the possibility of a call-up if Vunipola was banned for at least the start of the tournament.
He said: “Right now it is not the moment for all those eventualities. Players have to recover.
“We we will debrief the game and go through the disciplinary process with Billy Vunipola.”
Borthwick is already facing a possible ban for captain Farrell following his high tackle on Taine Basham during England’s 19-17 win over Wales last week.
A disciplinary panel found mitigating factors and overturned the dismissal, saying the involvement of hooker Jamie George in the tackle caused Basham to change direction.
The original decision to overturn the card met with split opinion and was hotly debated all week.
World Rugby has challenged that verdict and said in a statement confirming the appeal that “player welfare is the number one priority”. A new hearing in front of a three-person independent judicial committee will be held on Tuesday.
If World Rugby is successful, Farrell, 31, would miss a chunk of England’s World Cup pool stage games.
Before Saturday’s match, Ireland coach Andy Farrell called the controversy over son Owen’s disciplinary process a “circus” that was “absolutely disgusting”.
Owen Farrell was suspended for five games in 2020 and also served a two-match ban in 2016.
In January, the RFU approved a reduction in tackle height for the community game in England in order to improve player safety, with head injuries a major area for concern in recent years.
Before Farrell’s latest red card was overturned, he faced a potential ban of six games as the mid-range sanction, having received a three-week ban for the same offence in January.
England will also face Japan, Chile and Samoa in their World Cup pool.
‘Need to make it safe for everyone’ – Lawes
Courtney Lawes, who replaced Farrell as captain for Saturday’s match, told Prime Video: “People are not doing this on purpose.
“It is a split-second decision and you want to get on that front foot. Unfortunately mistakes do happen and it is going to be part of the game.
“I don’t really want to comment on it, but we need to make it safe for everyone who plays, and that’s why sanctions like this are put into place.”
Ireland are ranked the number one international team in the world and went on to punish England after Vunipola’s red.
However, former England captain Dylan Hartley said on Prime Video: “England do not want to become cagey when they get a card – some of the best performances in rugby are when teams are up against it.
“They need an inner belief and confidence, they must believe in what they are doing.
“The intent was different to the previous two weeks largely down to George Ford at 10.”
