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Owen Farrell passes Jonny Wilkinson to become England's highest point scorer
By Josh Raisey
England captain Owen Farrell has officially become his country’s highest point scorer of all-time, passing Jonny Wilkinson’s tally of 1,179 against Samoa in Lille.
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Farrell entered England’s final match of Pool D against the Pacific Islanders on Saturday just one point shy of the 2003 World Cup winner’s total, but stuttered slightly to get over the line by missing his first conversion attempt following an Ollie Chessum try. He was on target though five minutes later with a penalty to move to the summit of England’s leaderboard.
His total of 16 points against Chile two weeks ago took the Saracen to within touching distance of Wilkinson, and it looked as though he was going to break the record against the South Americans. However, a few missed conversions meant Wilkinson was able to hold onto his record for a further two weeks. Even with the record being so close, the fly-half stressed before the match that it has not been on his mind this week.
“I haven’t given it too much thought,” the 109-cap England international said.
“It’s not something that you like to think about too much before anything is done. My sole concentration is on the game at the weekend and preparing for what is a massive test against Samoa.
“The one thing I will say is it has been honour to have the chance to play for England as much as I have. To be in the vicinity of that record, to be able to play with this group of players and all the players I have played with before and staff, the one thing I would say is it has been an honour so far.”
Despite passing Wilkinson’s record for England, Farrell still sits behind him in the all-time list of Test rugby points scorers due to Wilkinson’s total of 67 points for the British & Irish Lions compared to Farrell’s haul of 34. It is only a matter of time before Farrell passes that total as well, which will leave only the All Blacks‘ Dan Carter ahead of him with 1,598 points.
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