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England laugh off suggestion Owen Farrell has picked up an injury
England have laughed off the suggestion that Owen Farrell is carrying a knee injury heading into this Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final versus Fiji in Marseille.
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Pictures emerged on Wednesday from training in Aix-en-Provence of the skipper with strapping around his left knee, but the idea that Farrell was potentially an injury doubt was dismissed at their media briefing later in the day.
Assistant coach Tom Harrison had claimed early on at the top-table session he attended with Jamie George and Elliot Daly that England had a clean bill of health ahead of their last-eight match. “Yes, everyone’s fit, everyone’s trained,” he said.
However, it was put to the scrum coach some minutes later that pictures of Farrell wearing knee strapping had emerged from the training session and he was asked to describe what had happened.
“He [Farrell] probably had his knee strapped would be the answer,” chuckled Harrison in reply. “Like I said, everyone is fit, everyone has trained fully today.
“There are no issues there. Perfectly fine. It would be just him preparing for a tough training session to make sure we are in the right place for the weekend.”
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A curiosity about England’s fortunate one-point, pool-concluding win over Samoa last Saturday in Lille was that hooker Jamie George played the entire 80 minutes with replacement Theo Dan left unused on the bench.
Was this a case of Steve Borthwick’s management not having faith in the less experienced Dan to sub on for his vastly experienced Saracens clubmate in a match that went down to the wire before England were eventually declared 18-17 winners?
“I don’t think it’s a case of not trusting Theo Dan, it’s more a case of the performance Jamie is putting in,” suggested Harrison. “It was a brilliant performance.
“The leadership qualities Jamie brings are probably irreplaceable in the group, so in tight moments we needed Jamie on the pitch and that is the decision that was made.
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“Theo is brilliant, Theo is the sort of human that goes to work every single day and just focuses on getting better.”
England are braced for a huge set-piece battle versus Fiji. “Last weekend we had some good challenges, we put on a good performance at the scrum,” suggested Harrison.
“We probably weren’t rewarded as we felt we could have been, but we provided some good quality ball to play off.
“Fiji will be another step forward with the strength they have got in their front row with (Eroni) Mawi, (Sam) Matavesi, (Luke) Tagi and you have got Peni Ravai, all these players have played in top leagues in the different countries, and they will pose a different challenge so we will be well prepared for that.
“If you look at how they have developed their game around their set-piece, they have managed to reduce the amount of penalties they gave away.
“They are big human beings who will rely on that and try to overpower you there, so we have got some strategies in place to deal with that.”
"Fantastic, men. Fantastic!"
– England polish their defensive press in Aix-en-Provence ahead of next Sunday's Rugby World Cup quarter-final versus Fiji in nearby Marseille. #ENGvFIJ #EnglandRugby #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/1hPUz0rXVY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 11, 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
235 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
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