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Woodward verdict on what ban means for Farrell's England captaincy
Former England coach Clive Woodward has assessed what the four-game ban for Owen Farrell means for his captaincy of Steve Borthwick’s squad at the Rugby World Cup.
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Last week’s original free-to-play-on disciplinary hearing verdict after his red card versus Wales was appealed by World Rugby and it emerged on Tuesday night that Farrell must now miss four matches – two Summer Nations Series fixtures and the Rugby World Cup pool clashes with Argentina and Japan.
The outcome leaves England going into battle minus their first-choice out-half, a situation that Woodward has run the rule over in his latest Sportsmail column. He reckoned if the ban was any longer, he would have questioned Farrell keeping the captaincy for the World Cup.
However, he believes there is now no need for change and that George Ford is in pole position to wear the No10 England shirt in the first two rounds in France.
Woodward wrote: “Owen Farrell’s ban of four matches was confirmed on Tuesday night and it was the correct outcome… England’s captain will miss the first two games of the World Cup against Argentina and Japan.
“The four-match ban includes last weekend’s warm-up defeat by Ireland – rightly, in my opinion – so Farrell won’t be able to play in the final preparation game against Fiji and the early stages of the tournament in France.
“But he undoubtedly still has a key role to play for England. He must still go to the World Cup as skipper. Had he been banned for six weeks, I might have had a different view. In all likelihood, he will also come straight back into the team when available.
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“For now, Steve Borthwick must reserve his judgment on that, as either George Ford or Marcus Smith might have lift-off in the early stages of the competition. And as an international head coach, you must take things one game at a time.
“I have consistently maintained that the game against the Pumas will define England’s World Cup campaign, so to be without one of his best players is a massive, massive blow to Borthwick.
“It is a big ask for Smith to start at No 10 in the Argentina match. But whether Borthwick goes for him or Ford, it is a big opportunity for either of them to impress and lay down a marker.
“I would still imagine Borthwick will opt for Ford given he is a big fan of his ability and the two worked together to win the Premiership with Leicester… England should still be good enough to beat Argentina with either Ford or Smith at 10. I’m not saying that’s a guarantee, however. Far from it actually – Argentina are a very dangerous side.”
- Click here to read the latest Clive Woodward Sportsmail column in full
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Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to comments