England captain Owen Farrell fends off Samu Kerevi to be voted world's best inside centre

England captain Owen Farrell has been voted the world’s best No. 12 by fans around the globe after fighting off the challenge of former Wallabies star Samu Kerevi in a poll on social media.

The 28-year-old claimed the victory with a slim winning margin of little over 50 percent on RugbyPass‘ Facebook and Instagram accounts as part of the Straight 8 Fan Vote campaign to determine the best player on the planet in each position.

Farrell and Kerevi were left as the last two players standing in the third and final round of the knockout bracket after having dispatched some household names in the prior two rounds.

After dispatching Argentina and Jaguares midfielder Jeronimo de la Fuente with ease in the first round, Farrell backed that up with a tight win against Springboks and Panasonic Wild Knights star Damian de Allende with more than 55 percent of the public’s backing.

On the other side of the draw, Kerevi had defeated Ireland and Leinster midfielder Robbie Henshaw after accruing 75 percent of the vote, before squeaking past blockbusting All Blacks sensation Ngani Laumape with around 55 percent of the fans’ approval.

Farrell’s decorated career, however, proved too much for the 33-cap Australian to overcome.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_jfbh8Acg0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

With two British and Irish Lions tours, two Six Nations titles, three Triple Crowns, five Premiership titles and three European Champions Cup crowns to his name, there is plenty of evidence to suggest the 2017 European player of the year deserves his place in the RugbyPass Straight 8 Fan Vote World XV alongside fellow Englishmen Maro Itoje and Manu Tuilagi.

The trio are three of many – including Cheslin Kolbe, Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen and Stuart Hogg – who have already won previous instalments of the campaign.

The ninth instalment of the Straight 8 Fan Vote is scheduled to get underway next week.