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Body language expert shares verdict on hand-over-mouth Owen Farrell
A leading UK body language expert has run the rule over the weekend Rugby World Cup behaviours of Owen Farrell and Dan Biggar.
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Darren Stanton claimed that the suspended England skipper was deeply frustrated at having to watch his team’s win over Argentina from the Marseille stands, while the Wales out-half was described as someone to avoid when displaying the anger he showed versus Fiji in Bordeaux.
The opening round of the Rugby World Cup in France came to a close on Sunday night when the Welsh clung on to a 32-26 victory in a classic encounter with the Fijians.
The previous evening, it was the turn of England to get off to a 27-10 winning start in their clash with the Pumas without their skipper.
Farrell had copped a four-game ban last month that will only expire after next Sunday’s second outing at the finals against Japan in Nice.
"Let's get some noise up…"
– England trained Tuesday in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage minus skipper Courtney Lawes and Tom Curry… but George Kruis surprisingly turned up? #ENGvJPN #EnglandRugby #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/cWtDvfBhuM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 12, 2023
With their captain unavailable, it was left to George Ford to take on the No10 jersey and he did this task with aplomb, scoring all 27 of his team’s points – including a 10-minute drop goal hat-trick in a first half that had started with the red-carding of flanker Tom Curry.
Stanton, the body language expert who has appeared on popular UK shows such This Morning and The One Show, monitored the reactions of Farrell over the course of the Stade Velodrome match as he helplessly watched Ford kick England to an unexpected win.
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Speaking to CasinoAlpha.com, Stanton explained how Farrell showed signs of anxiety and impatience from the stands with Ford putting in his match-winning display. “In the stands, there was a mixture of anxiety and impatience. Clearly, he wanted to be a part of the match,” reckoned Stanton.
“There was frustration, anger and disbelief as he was watching on not being in a position to play or help or support his teammates.
“Farrell frequently held his hand over his mouth, which is a gesture that displays disbelief and shock at a given situation, so incredibly frustrated is probably what I would say to describe him as he stood in the stands watching on.”
Switching to Biggar, who berated his Wales teammates for trying to play their way out of trouble deep in their own half just before half-time, Stanton added: “Dan Biggar shows all the tell-tale signs of being in an extreme state of anger, and the police used to call it ‘gross motor movement’.
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“This is where people clench their fists and grit their teeth and, from a psychological perspective, we see him exhibiting the anger emotion through his micro-expressions and the eyes are focused in a particular direction.
“There is no mistaking an anger expression but, also coupled with the gross motor movements, this is somebody you want to stay out of their way if you see anyone displaying these gestures.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
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