Steve Borthwick says it's a 'privilege'; coach Owen Farrell Photo: PA Wire/Mike Egerton
Steve Borthwick likes to deal with facts. Selection decisions, he says, are based as much as possible on the evidence he presents to his players, but in the case of Owen Farrell, the England manager has a curious blind spot.
Take kicks on goal. Farrell's success rate in the Six Nations was a staggering 58 per cent. Meanwhile, George Ford scored 41 points with a 92.3 percent success rate in two World Cup matches against Argentina and Japan. So it was not an informed decision when Borthwick gave his captain the chance to get ahead of Ford against Samoa. It almost came at a cost.
Farrell looked set to make history by converting Ollie Chessum's try in the ninth minute, but the ticker tape on the occasion of him overtaking Jonny Wilkinson to become England's record points scorer had to be put aside as he made a relatively simple effort.
An accidental miss of a light strike is inevitable. Much more egregious was the way he was timed out on the penalty clock in the 63rd minute.
The context was that a familiar red mist descended over Farrell after he was tackled by Samoan's Danny Toala. He expresses his frustration, almost unintelligible into the microphone, to referee Andrew Brace, who responds: “Owen, can you let me talk? Just trust me to do our job.” Farrell replies: «I'm trying.»
Shortly after there is another tackle without the ball, this time Paul Alo-Emile on Jamie George, and now Farrell is red-hot.
Farrell was distracted from his kicking duties during a fair spar with referee Andrew Brace Photo: PA Wire/Mike Egerton
“If it had been us, the two of them, it would have been a yellow card,” Farrell says.
“No, it’s not like that, just two penalties, and they come with a warning,” Brace replies.
“Same thing. No ball, no hands,” Farrell counters.< /p>
“No, it's not the lack of hands, it's the lack of the ball,” Brace replies and blows the whistle to start the shot clock, but still the back and forth continues.
“I know you're trying impose on me on Owen, but this is just a punishment.
“If it were us…
“No, it’s not…”
At this point, Brace moves away and Farrell's complaining volume fades, but the TV camera appears to pick up his words: «If I do this, it'll be a yellow card,» with an expletive or two thrown in for good measure. Unsurprisingly, his attention wandered away from the shot clock. It's hard to imagine Ford making the same mistake, or Courtney Lawes as captain getting into a similar altercation with Brace, who later sinned with Bin Tumua Manu for snatching Farrell out of the air.
Despite their similarities, Farrell and Ford have very different personalities on the field. Farrell is Ford's fire in the ice. It seems no coincidence that England's two most impressive victories under Borthwick came while Farrell was on the sidelines: first when he was sent off in the warm-up match against Wales, reducing England to 12 men, and then during his suspension against Argentina when Tom Curry was sent off after two minutes. On both occasions Ford took control and led England to victory.
However, with Farrell starting alongside him for the first time in over two years, Ford seemed a shadow of the player he had been in the first two matches, in which he won back-to-back man of the match awards. He was substituted in the 51st minute to replace Marcus Smith.
Even if England weren't particularly fluent in these games, they at least played with a recognizable structure and form. After a bright start in which Manu Tuilagi was repeatedly forced behind the line and Farrell played a key role in setting up Chessum's try, the England back line has become sluggish in attack and vulnerable in defense.
It looks like choosing either Ford's Borthwick or Farrell in the first half of the quarter-finals will be a straightforward choice. Again, if Borthwick is dealing with the facts, he will have to secretly manipulate the evidence to keep Farrell on the sidelines.
Farrell coaches and his teammates continue to consider him an inspiring leader. Photo: Getty Images/Dan Mullan
Will he dare to abandon his captain? He's done it once before in the Six Nations for Marcus Smith, but judging by his comments on Saturday night, it will be the exception to the rule. “For this guy to have an impact on so many people’s lives, he has to be such a great role model,” Borthwick said. «It's a great honor for me as a manager to work with him and I hope he will wear this England shirt many more times and [he will] continue to play as well as he is now.»
The gap between how Farrell is perceived inside and outside the England camp remains huge. Coaches and teammates see an inspiring leader who sets the defensive tone and training standard. Outsiders do not share this love. His name was the only one booed when he was announced in Lille, while Ford and Smith received the loudest cheers. When he managed to surpass Wilkinson's record, it received only muted applause and a ruffle of Jamie George's hair.
Passing such a milestone deserved much more recognition. Whether Farrell deserves to start against Fiji in the quarter-finals is another matter.
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