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'Owen Farrell not in the top eight England flyhalves': Rusty Saracens cause for concern for faltering title favourites
There were suspicions going into England’s opening match of the year that a contingent of their players wouldn’t be ready for the intensity of the Six Nations. That fear came to fruition on Saturday when Scotland scored a first win at Twickenham in almost 40 years.
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The players in question, of course, were the side’s five Saracens, who’ve experienced a dearth of rugby thanks to the team’s demotion to England’s Championship club competition.
The RFU Championship is yet to kick off this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which means that Saracens, who were relegated following a salary cup breach, have played just a solitary competitive game in 2021 – against Ealing Trailfinders.
Billy Vunipola was the only England international to feature in that match, however. Vunipola’s Saracens teammates, Owen Farrell, Jamie George, Elliot Daly and Maro Itoje, meanwhile, have not played since the Autumn Nations Cup final in December last year – and it showed in the Calcutta Cup battle on Saturday.
While Itoje was his normal industrious self, causing havoc at the breakdowns and giving Scotland halfback Ali Price a particularly difficult time at the back of the ruck, Farrell and Daly failed to set the backline alight while George was out of sync with his lineout jumpers at crucial moments throughout the match.
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England coach Eddie Jones chalked up Farrell and Daly’s misery to the side’s lack of possession, which sat at just 35 per cent for the match.
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“The first half was had 25 per cent possession, I haven’t seen the second half stats but I don’t think it would be much higher than that,” Jones said following the game. “We had no ball so when you’re playing 10 with no ball it’s difficult.”
Even when the likes of Farrell and Daly did have clean ball, however, they struggled to help their team get on the front foot.
Stats obviously don’t tell the full picture, but Farrell actually had the ball in his hands more than his opposite, Finn Russell, but England’s midfield and wings combined for just 12 runs throughout the game, illustrating how rarely the ball was spread amongst the three-quarters.
Ex-Scotland coach Matt Williams was quick to put the boot into the Saracens contingent, suggesting the five “weren’t at the races”.
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Itoje, with a mark of 6 out of 10, was the best of the lot according to the RugbyPass player ratings for the game, while Farrell and Vunipola were handed scores of 5.
Fans on social media were also critical of the five Saracens players, suggesting that the group looked especially rusty – which is hardly surprising, given their lack of game time this year.
Wooh these boys look rusty. Must be nervous in front of a big crowd. #ENGvSCO #SixNationsRugby
— Hugh Terry ?? #BoycottIsrael (@Hugorelly) February 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/PatrickLewis123/status/1358115388811325440
https://twitter.com/LiveseyTheo/status/1358120346851934211
#ENGvSCO shocking stats from England they reflect a team that's not a team. They said #saracens players would either be hungry or rusty-guess which ?
— Martin Jones (@beakym) February 6, 2021
Can't help thinking these @Saracens boys are a bit rusty for @EnglandRugby maybe need to go and test themselves against @ealingtfrugby to sharpen up, don't you think @ptivory?#ENGvSCO
— Richard Hollis (@UsedCarHead) February 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/BraaiKing_Bad/status/1358122371283103747
Honestly, despite Scotland playing well, we have been so poor! The Saracens players look rusty, Farrell just keeps kicking it away when we finally get possession! Flat and no ideas! #ENGvSCO
— Matt Farr (@BadgerFarr) February 6, 2021
Many argued the loss was a direct result of Jones’ selections and that the likes of Farrell and George shouldn’t have been picked to play in the first place.
One even suggested that, on form, captain Farrell wasn’t one of the best eight English flyhalves at present.
https://twitter.com/idhb77/status/1358116153881673729
While there’s obviously some subjectivity to the matter, the likes of Joe Simmonds (Exeter), Marcus Smith (Harlequins) and Jacob Umaga (Wasps) have shown moments of brilliance for their Premiership clubs this year while George Ford (Leicester) has struggled in an off-form Leicester team – but is at least playing rugby week-in and week-out.
The expectation is that the Saracens players will improve as the Six Nations progresses, but England’s premier annual international competition is hardly the place for players to find form.
Despite the sorry showing, Jones will likely keep changes to a minimum for next week’s clash with Italy, especially given the latter’s limp showing against France in the opening match of this year’s competition.
Comments on RugbyPass
Shame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
2 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
2 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
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