1
'We're certainly hopeful': The latest Saracens update on Farrell
Mark McCall has used his first media briefing back at the helm at Saracens to provide the latest update as to when the injured Owen Farrell should be back and ready to play for the Londoners. The England skipper was ruled out of the entire Guinness Six Nations when he suffered a fresh ankle injury on his club’s training ground in January.
ADVERTISEMENT
Farrell had been working his way back to full fitness after a separate ankle injury suffered against Australia in November required an operation.
However, just days before he was set to play his comeback game for Saracens versus London Irish in the European Challenge Cup, Farrell injured his other ankle and it was January 26 when England boss Eddie Jones said his skipper was bring operated on that day and wouldn’t play Test rugby this spring.
Having resumed his director of rugby role in recent days at Saracens after the club announced at the end of January that he was taking a break for medical reasons, McCall has outlined that Farrell is making encouraging progress and could be available to play in the Gallagher Premiership before the end of March.
“His recovery has gone positively and we are certainly hopeful that he will be back playing again towards the end of March. As to exactly when that will be I am not sure but it’s weeks rather than months,” said McCall, whose own return to work came as a surprise.
“He is not doing any training with the team. He is still with our performance team but he is certainly actively involved in meetings and preparation and that kind of thing off-field… He is getting closer to being able to play again so there are only hopefully three, four, five weeks before he plays again.
“He is excited about getting his boots back on, getting out there and helping the team again. He always has got a huge influence anyway, just how smart he is about the game and how good he is at helping a lot of the individuals in the team.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Second-place Saracens are set to play the 17th match of their Premiership campaign this Saturday at home to leaders Leicester. Farrell has only played in four so far this season and McCall believed his eventual return will be invaluable.
“To have a world-class player like Owen to come back in for probably the last five, six games of the season is going to be huge for us. The Six Nations will have finished by then so we will get a few other players back. We are hoping to get Aled Davies back pretty soon, Duncan Taylor back pretty soon, so hopefully we have got some difficult selections to make.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Andy Goode cant kick to 12
161 Go to commentsDoxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
76 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
33 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
33 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
161 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
76 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
33 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to comments