Eddie Jones has backed England captain Owen Farrell to come back “better than ever” from his latest injury and thrive during the latter stages of his career, just like New Zealand legend Dan Carter.
Farrell injured his ankle in training for Saracens last week and he underwent surgery on Wednesday, ruling him out of the whole of this year’s Six Nations.
The injury is the latest setback Farrell has endured this season after injuring his other ankle during the Autumn Nations Series.
Jones, however, has encouraged the 30-year-old to get back to his best when he returns and believes Farrell can shine late into his career, just like Carter did for New Zealand.
“Owen is one of the most resilient, the most driven players that I know, so he has got to take his medicine now - which is have the operation, rehab, go through all that pain,” said Jones.
“But he wants to be the best player he can be, he wants to captain England again, he wants to play for England again and so he will apply himself really well to his rehab.
“He could come back better than ever, and that’s what we are anticipating. So, all we can do is help support him along the way.”
Jones has cited Carter as possible inspiration for Farrell, with the former New Zealand fly-half guiding his country to World Cup glory back in 2015 when he was 33.
Carter suffered his fair share of injuries too, but managed to bounce back from them and only retired last year.
“I think there is a lot of evidence for over-30 players, particularly now, particularly the young guys coming through, where they can play their best rugby from 30 to 35,” Jones added.
“If you look at Dan Carter, what a great example, who played the only World Cup he ended up playing in, because of injury, at 35, and he was absolutely superb.
“Then he went on to play another couple of great years in Japan for Kobe and some time for Racing after.
“So there is no reason Owen can’t be moving into a real important part of his career. Sometimes you have got to train differently when you get to over 30 and that’s the communication between him and the strength and conditioning coaches at his club, and with us.
“But there is no reason why he can’t get better.”
