Andy Farrell has called the coverage around his son Owen Farrell's disciplinary process a "disgusting" circus.

England captain Owen was given a yellow card for a high tackle on Wales' Taine Basham on Saturday, with the card ungraded to red after a bunker review.

Basham failed a head injury assessment at the time but has been included in the Wales squad to face South Africa on Saturday.

Upon review, an independent disciplinary panel overturned the red card leaving the 31-year-old Saracens out-half free to play, just three weeks out from the World Cup.

But earlier today World Rugby announced that it is to appeal the decision, which will be held early next week with the exact date and time to be confirmed.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s warm-up game against England, for whom Farrell is not in the match-day squad, Andy Farrell told RTÉ Sport that the whole episode disgusted him.

"Well, whatever I say anyway is probably flawed anyway because I know what you are talking about and when you’re talking about somebody’s son and you are asking me the question it’s always going to be flawed anyway so what does that really matter, you know," said the Ireland head coach.

"You know, I don’t normally say too much because of that reason about my son but what I probably would say is at this moment in time is that the circus that gone around all of this is absolutely disgusting, in my opinion, disgusting and I suppose those people who have loved their time in the sun get a few more days to keep going at that."

Speaking as he announced a strong team to visit Dublin, England head coach Steve Borthwick (above) said: "In my original planning for the Summer Nations Series and as part of our World Cup preparation, Owen Farrell was due to be selected to play in Saturday’s Test.

"However, in light of the fact that so much of Owen’s training and match preparation time this week has been significantly affected and interrupted by the disciplinary process, I have not selected him in the matchday 23. Owen will travel to Ireland with our full support.

"Owen understands the situation but is of course disappointed, as I am, that he is missing such a special game that he would otherwise have played in."

Earlier, Farrell named an entirely new team from the side that beat Italy to take on England, who were beaten 29-16 in the last game of Ireland’s Grand Slam success.

Connacht back row Cian Prendergast earns a first start at number 8.

Farrell said: "I just see improvement all the time, you know, he came to New Zealand with us very raw, came back into Connacht and, to be fair, he’s always been a standout performer for Connacht, just because of his fight, his energy

"He’s a warrior of a type of player, he’s fit, tough but there’s all sorts of his game that he needs to tidy up and over the last eight weeks we’ve seen that in abundance so I’m excited to see him play at the weekend.

"His feel in around the game has improved, not just decision-making ball in hand, which has made his skill level a lot better but also his decision-making defensively, etc."

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