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Owen Farrell's 'fight for' reaction to Saracens' redemption title win
Owen Farrell has played down his Twickenham heroics even though Saracens boss Mark McCall claimed that his team’s No10 is playing the best rugby of his life and has taken his leadership to a whole new level.
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The out-half kicked 13 of his team’s points in Saturday’s 35-25 Gallagher Premiership final win over Sale, but it was his composure in the latter stages of the match when Sale were leading that stood out most.
The Sharks looked set to create an upset and win only their second Premiership title – and their first since 2006 – when they led 23-25 with 13 minutes remaining.
However, momentum decisively swung the way of a dogged Saracens and it left Farrell lifting the trophy following the conclusion of a thrilling final.
Victory was a massive outcome for the No10. It was just 11 weeks ago when he was left to stew on the England bench at Twickenham, Marcus Smith chosen to start in his place in the round four Guinness Six Nations match against France.
However, Farrell’s return to Saracens has since resulted in an upswing in personal fortunes, culminating in his team being crown champions of England just three years after they were automatically relegated to the Championship for repeated breaches of the salary cap.
“Look, I was just doing my bit in what the team was trying to do,” deflected Farrell post-game, refusing to lap up the individual praise proffered his way in the media room.
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“We have been preparing all week to be at our best this weekend and to not close up shop and not get into the type of game we didn’t want to get into. That didn’t go our way the whole game, but I thought our ability to keep accepting what had happened and get into the next thing allowed us to do that more so this year.”
Farrell couldn’t bring himself to talk about himself, a task that was left to his club boss McCall who enthused: “If you spent a week at our training ground, you wouldn’t believe just how influential he is, how clear he is with the playing group, how emotive he is, what standards he sets, how supportive he is to teammates young and old.
“He is playing the best rugby of his life at the moment but his leadership has gone to a whole new level. When the game was in the balance and it was 25-23 and we lacked a bit of energy, our senior players grasped the nettle really and saw us through very well in the last 15 or 20 minutes.
“We had a lot of control in that period of time, and that is down to their experience in those situations. They have been there and done it before and they showed a lot of experience when we needed it most.”
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Similar to how he downplayed his own performance in the comeback victory, Farrell also avoided gloating that Saracens’ title success was redemption for the salary cap scandal that resulted in them having to spend the 2020/21 season in the English second tier.
“No, no,” he replied when quizzed about the legacy of their run-in with Premiership officialdom. “There is a feeling of getting the best out of ourselves and that will carry on for a long time now.”
C’mon Owen, you can do better than that as regards summing up Saracens’ priceless return to the summit of the Premiership 11 months on from last season’s last-gasp defeat at the boot of Freddie Burns.
“In terms of this club and in terms of it being a place that you want to fight for and a special place to be, what has been created over the years and is still being created now is a place that nobody wants to leave, is a place that people want to be part of.
“Because of that there are people that have been here for 15 years, players that have been here for 15 years and the amount of players that have been here for 15 years for that amount of time I think it’s outstanding.
“You can talk about culture, you can talk about wanting to create something but what this club has done to keep that many people there for that long have that many people caring about the club and fighting for the club has properly made it into a genuine family.
“I know everybody says that and everybody talks about being tight-knit but the time we have spent together makes you care about each other and that has been created way before the stuff that you are talking about happened and I can see it happening for a long, long time now.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
1 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
13 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
1 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to comments