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Following 'massive' win over Wales, Farrell is relishing prospect of skippering England at RWC

By Nick Heath

After being named on Monday as the man to captain England at his second World Cup, the 70-cap Owen Farrell claimed that Sunday’s win by a largely inexperienced side over Wales was massive.

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The out-half told RugbyPass: “There was a point where the game got close, where Wales came back at us, and we seemed to react very well. We have spoken a bit about it and it seemed like we applied it well and finished the game off very strong.

“Watching the game, I thought that was massive. Everybody’s asking about the people who are so-called ‘inexperienced’ in the squad and what they are going to bring and I thought they really brought the energy. 

“The likes of Lewis (Ludlam) and Willi (Heinz) didn’t wait for anybody else to do it. They set the tone themselves and some of the more experienced boys followed that, which was brilliant to see.”

England are set to embark on their latest World Cup campaign with 16 of Eddie Jones’ squad survivors from Stuart Lancaster’s squad four years ago. Does Farrell think this pain and anguish of the early tournament exit in 2015 is still a motivating factor some players now?

“That’s probably fairly individual,” he said. “There will be people who are still holding onto it maybe, I don’t know. There will be people who feel like they will have dropped it. There will be people who will feel like it will have made them better. 

“On the other side of that, there’s people who weren’t there whatsoever, weren’t anywhere near it, weren’t involved. Everyone’s different. The thing that excites me most is what is in front of us, definitely. There’s a squad that’s been picked today and it’s only the start for us. It’s going to be an exciting couple of months hopefully.”

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As for the question on how he is getting on with learning any Japanese, Farrell added: “It’s alright, it’s coming along. We’re trying!”

WATCH: Eddie Jones celebrates Sunday’s successful start to England’s World Cup warm-up series

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