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England: Owen Farrell's non-playing role, the latest on Tom Curry
Richard Wigglesworth has shed light on the influence of Owen Farrell heading into this Saturday’s Summer Nations Series clash with Ireland on Saturday. The England skipper was freed to play with immediate effect by an independent disciplinary hearing verdict on Tuesday after his red card against Wales last weekend was downgraded to yellow.
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However, World Rugby have since decided to appeal that decision and with Farrell having missed much of his team’s training on Monday and Tuesday, Steve Borthwick decided not to select him against the Irish even though the head coach’s masterplan for the entire Summer Nations Series was for the skipper to play in this fixture.
Farrell has still travelled with the England squad to Dublin and he took part in their captain’s run training session at the Aviva Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Having walked out of the tunnel chatting with him prior to the session, assistant coach Wigglesworth was asked if Farrell might be on water boy duties or have some other specific non-playing matchday role to fill to help the team.
“I don’t think he is on any of those duties from what I understand but he is captain of the squad, so he always has an impact on the players around him in a positive way,” explained Wigglesworth.
England, with Owen Farrell in tow, have arrived for their captain’s run 21 weeks after they last visited Aviva Stadium. #EnglandRugby #IREvENG #SummerNationsSeries #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/iCeygwLqyx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 18, 2023
“He has led Courtney (Lawes) lead this week because he wasn’t around for part of the week and the sort of leader he is he knows that Courtney is leading on the field tomorrow [Saturday] so he has let him get on with it, but he has been as helpful and as into it as he always is.”
Tom Curry was also involved in the on-pitch captain’s run session. Along with fellow injury-rehabber Jack Walker and the recently called-up Alex Mitchell, the Sale back-rower is one of three players in the Rugby World Cup squad of 33 yet to play in England’s four-game Summer Nations Series.
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He recently had his ankle in a protective moon boot but is now mobile again. “He is going well,” reported Wigglesworth. “You saw him out on the pitch running today so he will be nearing a training return for us.”
Might he be available to face Fiji on August 26, the last England warm-up match before their World Cup campaign begins with the September 9 game against Argentina in Marseille?
“I’m not sure, he has not been in team training so I am guessing it will be a medics decision on how early he comes back into full team training and then how much of that he gets done before we potentially see him in a Test match.”
There was also mention of Mitchell. Having been cut from the England training squad at the end of June, he called back up on Monday in place of Jack van Poortvliet who will be unavailable for the finals following the ankle injury sustained in last Saturday’s win over Wales.
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Asked how he has settled on, Wigglesworth said: “Really well, he is a popular member of the squad. We were all devastated for Jack, but Alex has come in, slotted in really well. He has been in with us at the start of camp so there was nothing massively new to him. He is the sort of personality that comes in and cracks on.”
It’s 21 weeks since England were beaten 29-16 by Ireland in Dublin, a Guinness Six Nations finale in which Borthwick’s team were forced to mostly play with 14 players following the red-carding of Freddie Steward.
That red card was rescinded and downgraded to yellow at a subsequent disciplinary hearing – and it hasn’t been forgotten by the full-back.
Asked if that 13-point defeat had featured in this week’s build-up, the assistant coach replied: “No, just that incident which is obviously pretty personal to Fred because it got overturned but no, not overly, no.”
Ireland have named 11 starters from that Grand Slam-clinching win to take on an English XV with seven repeat starters from March. How might it go for them 21 weeks after that defeat?
“I have seen a very determined England squad, that is for sure,” reported Wigglesworth. “They have been incredibly professional, diligent. They want to show what they are all about.
“We just want to attack well. We just want to use the ball as efficiently as we can, which is what happens when you attack well. You make errors with the ball and you think you are not going to get in any sort of rhythm – and it is going to look not so pretty. It’s through no lack of endeavour. I’m pretty confident we will get it right.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why 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!
3 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 …
30 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.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments