Praise for Farrell for having 'the bollox to talk to Maro like that'
The Rugby Pod has delivered a glowing endorsement of Owen Farrell and his leadership in Saracens’ latest Gallagher Premiership final win, including the way he boisterously shouted at Maro Itoje to relay instructions on his behalf late in the game.
The England skipper was given the man of the match award for his role in piloting the Londoners to their comeback 35-25 victory of Sale at Twickenham and his influence on proceedings was a major talking point on the podcast co-hosted by Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton.
It was at 33-25, just before Farrell shaped up to land his final conversion of the showpiece with about eight minutes remaining, when he was spotted shouting at his club and country colleague Itoje a message he wanted to be given to the rest of the team before Sale’s George Ford got around to the post-conversion restart kick from halfway.
Ex-Saracens player Hamilton was sat in amongst the Farrell family in the Twickenham stands and he was nothing but impressed with what he saw from them while watching Owen go about the business of skippering his team to its first Premiership title success since 2019. “I’m sat there with his family, watching their interaction,” began Hamilton.
“They are cool as cucumbers. They are winners. I’m sat there with all the Farrell team. So Andy Farrell, Owen’s mum, his brother, his sister, the kids. We [the Hamiltons] are up there screaming, armpits sweating everywhere, dripping, and there was no sweat on any of them [the Farrells]. They are just cool, calm, collected and they are winners – and that is what Owen is.
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“Owen very rarely shows hysteria in emotion unless he wins something. Watch his emotion when he wins, that is how much it means to him. His processes are very different… that emotion and the dynamics around it, it’s all to see now, he is running the show.
“Yes, the coaches are (in charge) but they have nurtured that, they have embraced that, they have manipulated that because they know the importance of him and giving him the keys to the kingdom.
“He has got the confidence and has got the bollox to talk to Maro like that – and Maro is a decent player in his own right. I’m not saying George Ford doesn’t do that. Dan Biggar does it to his players as well… Johnny Sexton does it. Unapologetically as well.”
Co-host Goode, the ex-England out-half, added: “You overstep the mark sometimes, no doubt. I used to do it at the clubs I was at, but the difference when Owen does it is he is playing at the top of his game and he is the leader and he is the one you can’t even question anything he does because look at his performances on the pitch, he is out of this world.
“He has added so many strings to his bow this year, like ball-playing skills. There was a flip out the back at the weekend as well. He is just ridiculous in a 10 jersey, head and shoulders above anyone else, and when you are the leader, when you are the boss, you are that driver of a team. That is what brings the best out of other players when you have that much intensity. He is the king, basically.”
Hamilton agreed, going on to question why coaches such as Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick with England and Warren Gatland with the Lions have picked Farrell at inside centre rather than at out-half. “I thought this at the weekend when I was sitting watching him play and he was up against Ford, going to 12 ruined him a bit.
“He wanted to be in that position because he was put in that position and he wanted to play for England and the Lions. Naturally, he is going to be like, yes, but I reckon that was the blip in his career… How is everyone else picking him there? That is the weird thing. You have got some of the best coaches in the world that are picking him at 12.
Goode understood. “He [Farrell] is an alpha 10 that needs to be running the show. I have said it millions of times. Moving to 12 he is nowhere near the player he is because he can’t influence everyone in that same way.
“They [other coaches] are looking at it from a different view of, ‘I want to get my best players on the field in any which way’ and what Owen has done is shown everyone that he is the king at 10 and that is where his strengths are. Yes, he can fill a role at 12 if it is best for the team and he is never going to say, ‘No, don’t f***ing pick me at 12, I want to play 10’.
“You ask in an interview, he is happy to play 12 but deep down he wants to be the boss and when you give him that backing that he has got with the players around him and his own abilities, he is by far the best 10 comfortably in the Premiership and some.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Great to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
1 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
141 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
141 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
141 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
141 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
141 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
141 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
141 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
141 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
141 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
141 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
141 Go to commentsHo hum.
141 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
141 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
141 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
141 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to comments