"Borthwick enraged" - Fans can't believe 'assault' on Owen Farrell was ignored

The Italian flanker pinned Farrell down with a forearm to the face to the dismay of many viewers.

One fan wrote: "I'm surprised the Italian player wasn't penalised for putting his hands-on Owen Farrell's face and pushing his head into the ground."

A second commented: "Contact with the eye area? If that had been against anyone other than Owen Farrell they’d have been sent off."

"I can see why Steve Borthwick is enraged. If it was Owen Farrell’s forearm in Negri’s face, you know he’d be marched back 10!" said a third.

Another said: "Nasty stuff i mean i hate owen farrell as much as the next guy but come on"

A fifth wrote: "No idea how the ref ignored the Italian laying on Farrell with hand in face. Typical Southern hemisphere ref."

World class rugby players don’t take losing well, but some take it worse than others.

But who are the players that rugby fans just love to hate, and why?

Could it be anybody else to start? Farrell fits the label “our guy” better than most, meaning you love to hate him unless he’s in your squad. Then you’d go to the end’s of the earth to defend him. 

The England captain, also known as ‘Shoulder boy’ for his high tackling, does himself no favours with his poor tackling technique.

Although he’s currently serving a two-match ban, the fact he often seems to get away with it doesn’t help either.

The Saracens star went to school with England teammate George Ford

His education began in rugby league – he joined Wigan St Patricks at the age of eight

He became the youngest ever player to appear in English professional rugby, making his debut aged 17 and 11 days. This record was later beaten by schoolmate Ford

It’s well known that Owen is the son of Ireland head coach Andy Farrell. However, it’s less commonly know that his uncle Sean O’Loughlin is also a rugby league legend, winning 34 caps for Great Britain between 1993 and 2009

He was not at first registered as a Farrell, but took mum Colleen’s family name of O’Loughlin. The couple married in 1995, changing Owen’s surname to Farrell the following year.

Fails to dazzle on the pitch and is arguably best known for causing a scrap with Owen Farrell prior to the Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield in 2018.

He was then cited for making contract with the eye area of England number 8 Nathan Hughes. He then pulled this face.

Biggar is the epitome of players you hate until they are on your team.The way the fly-half continues to moan to referees vociferously has seemingly only got worse throughout his career.

It got so bad that popular online personality and diehard Scotland fan Glove39 made a video called ‘birdman’ mocking the way in which he always raises his arms in frustration to officials.

The expert in unsportsmanlike behavior. Sexton is skilled in exaggerating contact or distracting officials, knowing precisely when to employ his repertoire of underhanded tactics.

His most recent example of on-field nouse came against Wales just last weekend. The yellow card handed to Liam Williams in the 65th minute for a high hit on Sexton took a while to come as it was reviewed from multiple angles by the officials.

Wales fans piled in on Sexton after the Williams sin-binning, with one writing: 'Sexton play acted a head injury. Blatant cheating.'

Another Wales fan vented: 'That Liam Williams yellow card shows why rugby will be dead in a few years – nothing wrong with Liams body shape and Sexton play acting sums up how rugby has drastically changed for the worse. It’s a mockery to the real injuries.'

Another commented on Sexton being seen winking after the card, and said that his behaviour would "destroy the spectacle that is International rugby"