Courtney Lawes has revealed England players intend to use the ongoing Owen Farrell saga to help light a fire under their World Cup preparations against Ireland on Saturday.
There is clear frustration within England’s ranks, both at the reopening of a case they felt was closed and what Steve Borthwick described as “personal attacks” on Farrell’s character. Lawes, England’s stand-in captain, believes supporters will not fully appreciate Farrell until he has hung up his boots and said the regular captain is arguably the nation’s finest ever No 10. “We can certainly tap into a bit this week because it’s a big game and it’s important to us,” said Lawes. “Boys like Gengey [Ellis Genge] have kind of tapped into it a bit this week.
“If it wasn’t him [Farrell] in this situation then there probably wouldn’t have been as much uproar. I don’t know exactly where that comes from. He’s one of the best players of our generation, by a long shot. He’s maybe the best 10 ever for England and he proves it time and time again. When all the dust settles I think everyone will see that he’s deserving of every cap he’s got.”
Rarely has the buildup to a match between England and the world’s No 1 side been so dominated by someone who will not even take to the field. Farrell is in Dublin – he trained with the squad on Friday – but will travel to the stadium separately from the matchday squad on Saturday. The TV cameras are sure to pick him out but that will be the sum total of his involvement, with the attack coach, Richard Wigglesworth, confirming the 31-year-old will not be on water-boy duties.
Farrell’s second disciplinary hearing will take place on Tuesday next week, creating further disruption for Borthwick given part of the reason he opted to leave his captain out of Saturday’s match was his unavailability for last week’s key training session. If Farrell is to be banned it will have to be proved that his tackle was “always illegal”, leaving World Rugby far from certain he will be, despite the governing body’s decision to appeal against the initial verdict.
England are evidently upset that Farrell’s disciplinary process will drag into next week but Borthwick’s decision to lash out at the treatment of his captain, hours after Andy Farrell had labelled “the circus” surrounding his son as “absolutely disgusting”, was premeditated.
Certainly the vitriol – and he does get a lot – directed at Farrell is abhorrent but it should not be forgotten that the victim of the piece is Taine Basham, who had to be withdrawn from the field during Wales’s defeat at Twickenham last week after the tackle in question. The referee Nigel Owens is the latest high-profile figure to insist Farrell’s red card was warranted and amid England’s public frustrations on Thursday evening in Dublin, there was a notable absence of much contrition over the incident.
Circling the wagons, though, may just suit England, and that may be their intention. Eddie Jones spent his entire tenure as head coach trying to pinpoint exactly what makes an English rugby side tick and one of his latter theories is that they perform better when their backs are against the wall, and recent matches against Ireland would confirm that. In last year’s Six Nations, an early red card to Charlie Ewels prompted a spirited show of defiance, evident again in Dublin in March after Freddie Steward’s sending off.
Keeping 15 men on the pitch would help but England need to find something to provide the spark because they are running into what is pretty much a full-bore Ireland side. Farrell Sr’s side have won their past 15 matches in Dublin and will not have forgotten how, four years ago, a thrashing at Twickenham put a pin in their World Cup ambitions.
In other words, if England play with the torpor they have done in their first two warm-up matches – the last 15 minutes last weekend notwithstanding – they could be on the wrong end of a hiding. And given this is essentially the strongest side available to Borthwick, with the obvious exception of Farrell, that would be a considerable problem with just one more warm-up match, against Fiji, to come.
George Ford’s first start since March 2021 should help them improve if his cameo against Wales last week is anything to go by, and he will have Manu Tuilagi on his shoulder at inside-centre for the very first time in England colours. Tuilagi has a fine record against Ireland and has been managed carefully so far this summer, but an all-action display would boost confidence in the ranks no end.
Ultimately, England need a rallying performance in Dublin and whether they use Farrell’s absence to light the touch paper or not there is a growing sense that it is time to demonstrate how they intend to be competitive in France. A bit of attacking polish would help, too, given none of Borthwick’s back has scored a try in four-and-a-half hours of rugby.
“We’ve obviously not performed as well as we’d like to have performed,” added Lawes. “There’s a lot of stuff for us to work on. The attack’s a big one for us. We’re working very hard on it. We want to go out there and score tries and play good rugby, because we’ve got the talent in the team. That’s a big area for us, obviously.
“Set piece and general forward work is going to be huge for us as well going forward because we want to be a pack that’s feared again. Plenty to work upon but we’re certainly going in the right direction.”
