'What's the hate around Owen Farrell in the media...'
A former Saracens teammate of Owen Farrell has questioned the media narrative that wanted the England skipper pushed out of the Eddie Jones squad he was named as captain of last week. The 30-year-old has since had to pull out of preparations for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations opener versus Scotland on February 5, his club confirming last Friday that he had suffered a training ground injury setback.
However, Jim Hamilton, the retired ex-Scotland international, hasn’t let the general reaction to the selection of Farrell in last week’s England squad announcement go unchecked as he referenced it early in this week’s latest edition of The Rugby Pod, the show he co-hosts with Andy Goode, the ex-England out-half.
Here is how their Farrell/England conversation unfolded on a show where they had later had Edinburgh boss Mike Blair and Montpoellier’s Zach Mercer on as guests:
HAMILTON: “Goodey, tell me this and I don’t think we have ever spoken about this, Owen Farrell, Faz, a good friend of mine and a friend of the show, what’s the hate around him in the media about him not being in the squad? It might have been me because I started it.”
GOODE: “Jim, every time you talk about him you say, I don’t like him because he thought I was s*** and all this stuff. So the big question around Owen Farrell, he hasn’t played since the November internationals. There is obviously always question marks.
I tip the slipper to Eddie Jones with his latest @EnglandRugby selection in my column for @RugbyPass. Bar Farrell and the non selection of Ford he’s pretty much picked on form and fitness so have a read here ??https://t.co/HM6bu9I8cQ
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) January 19, 2022
“You go back to last year’s Six Nations around Eddie Jones picking a lot of the Saracens boys that hadn’t played at all. He is the only one that has been kind of granted not a special dispensation but he is in the squad without being picked on form or fitness. Sam Underhill, who unfortunately got injured again at the weekend, is out of the squad because Eddie Jones doesn’t think he is fit, he has had a few head knocks and all this stuff, wants him to get some game time under his belt.
“Elliot Daly, same thing. He has come back from injury and said he is best off playing for Saracens for a few games and getting some fitness. I actually did a column for RugbyPass saying how great the squad was from Eddie Jones form in terms of he was picking on pure form apart from Owen Farrell and Orlando Bailey is the other one with George Ford being out but he is now back in because Owen Farrell is out.
“When it’s your captain and he’s your leader and he has been out there is going to be questions around Owen Farrell and Eddie Jones has said, ‘Listen, I am picking him because he is our captain, he is our leader, the energy he brings to the England side in terms of the winning mentality and everything around the training week and leadership on the field he is integral to Eddie Jones.
“I don’t really get it [the media hate] but blame you, Jim. It started with you when you said you don’t him because he said you were s*** and he doesn’t like you because you are s***. That is how it started.”
HAMILTON: “It could well have done and for the influential person that I am, I am not going to apologise for it but I look at all the other captains and again I have only had a snapshot of some of the media stuff and obviously social media and you take that as the rule of thumb, don’t you, these days.
“But Alun Wyn Jones, a guy that I buried. I questioned him but everyone else backed him in the media and he rocked up and they [Wales] won the Six Nations. Johnny Sexton, questioned him as well. But I have not questioned Faz in terms of him being in the squad or in the team, but everyone else in England seems to be.
“What I am saying is I just find it a little bit weird that every other kind of tier one nation or big team captain there is not many people questioning but with Faz for some reason, when he got injured in the Autumn Nations and the Courtney was captain, everything coming out of camp was like oh it’s a much happier place.”
GOODE: “Are you putting words into people’s mouths?”
HAMILTON: “I don’t really know, I just don’t understand why there is this narrative around trying to push Faz out. He is the captain. Any other captain it would be like mate, like Johnno [Martin Johnson] for example, you’re in regardless if you have only got one leg.
“I am not saying that Faz is Johnno but there just seems to be an underlying thing about him but anyway he is injured. He has seemingly injured his other ankle and what you are hearing coming out of Saracens it doesn’t sound good for him. We do wish him a speedy recovery.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
17 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
17 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
17 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
17 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
17 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
17 Go to comments