OWEN FARRELL has broken his silence on the Rugby World Cup ban which will see him miss England's first two matches.
The England captain was handed a four-match ban after being sent off against Wales last month, but only after two controversial appeals.
An independent disciplinary committee had initially overturned the decision to upgrade his yellow card to a red for a high tackle on Taine Basham.
However, World Rugby then appealed that decision, with a different committee upholding the red card.
Farrell was subsequently handed a four-match ban and has now broken his silence on the matter.
Asked if the incident was a one-off or something he needs to rectify, he told reporters: "We are always trying to get better.
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"We are always trying to get better in every area of the game and obviously the defence and the tackle area is part of that.
"I don’t want to be in that situation again, I know that.
"Mistakes happen, but I don’t want to sit here and talk about that at the minute, I want to talk about what the team has got coming up which is a massive game on Saturday in Marseille. That is the exciting bit for us."
Farrell will miss England's first two matches of the tournament, starting with Saturday's clash with Argentina.
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He will also be suspended for the match against Japan on September 17 before returning to face Chile six days later.
"I’m gutted not to be playing, I’m gutted not to be available," added the England skipper. "Especially a big game like this at the weekend.
"I have even always wanted to play at Stade Velodrome ever since watching the quarter-final in 2007."
The fly-half is not bitter about the ban, though, explaining: "I’m not going to sit here and moan about it now.
"I am excited for this World Cup to start, I’m excited to see what this team can do and I’ll look forward to being available again."
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