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Saracens issue Michael Jordan-like Farrell warning to Harlequins
Saracens hooker Jamie George has issued a warning to Harlequins, claiming that skipper Owen Farrell has been wielding an intense Michael Jordan-like focus on the squad ahead of this Saturday’s eagerly awaited Gallagher Premiership semi-final between the rival London clubs. Jordan was the legendary Chicago Bulls basketballer whose career story was told with great insight in the 2020 documentary series, The Last Dance.
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The docuseries culminated in episode ten when focusing on June 1998 when Jordan and the Bulls took on the Utah Jazz in the NBA finals looking for a sixth championship and a perfect winning conclusion to The Last Dance.
With Saracens now restored to the business end of the Premiership season following their single campaign in the Championship following automatic relegation for salary cap breaches, they are now seeking their sixth title win following their 2011 breakthrough success.
They won 17 games and drew another in their 24-match regular season prior to this weekend’s playoffs and George has now likened the intensity that Farrell is bringing to proceedings at Saracens as similar to what unfolded in Chicago with Jordan leading their title challenge 24 years ago.
“He is everything. Everything,” said George in response to RugbyPass when asked at Tuesday’s media briefing about the influence currently being wielded by Farrell, who has quickly hit top form despite missing a large chunk of this season with back-to-back ankle operations.
“I have spoken about Owen before. Just watch The Last Dance, just watch Michael Jordan approaching that last playoff game, that is where you find Owen. He is driving the team, he is coaching the team, he is leading by example, he is talking unbelievably well. It’s the whole package really.”
Elsewhere at the media briefing, George added: “It’s sometimes funny, a criticism I can often make of Saracens is that good is never good enough and sometimes we have to sit back and say, ‘Actually, some things can be just good’.
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“It’s probably the right way you want to be rather than being in a position where you are criticising the entire time or letting things slide. We are on top of it and when you have got Owen Farrell as a captain, more often than not our standards are going to be pretty high.”
After getting demoted to the second tier, Saracens watched Harlequins win the Premiership title in their absence and being away from the limelight is something that has been touched on in the build-up to Saturday’s appetising semi-final.
“It has always been a big motivator for us, when we first got relegated we would speak about coming back, making sure that we show everyone what we are truly about, all those kinds of conversations have been happening, they were happening at the time.
“Now we are in a position where we are here now and we are reflecting on those times saying, ‘Look, we spoke about this, we want to make the most of this opportunity, it is everything we wanted over the last 18 months to two years, so it’s the time to put your hand up and show what we are about’.
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“The atmosphere around the group, the buy-in from each individual, I’m not just talking about the 23 guys that have been named to play on Saturday, I am talking about there is a different feel to the intensity of the non-23 and we have a massive emphasis on that here.
“That is always an indicator of where we are at, how on it are the non-23 guys. I have got to say they have been exemplary, as they have been for the last few years as well. The feeling is pretty good.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame 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.
3 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..
6 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.
6 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.)
3 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?
3 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.
3 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
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