Owen Farrell is ready to lead England into a new era, revealing he has no intentions of taking his foot off the gas.
The England captain jumped straight back into club rugby with Saracens after the World Cup, keen to help the north London side set the tone for the season ahead.
Farrell led England to a third-place finish at the World Cup in France, and at 32 could be forgiven for looking for a breather.
The 112-cap England fly-half will be managed carefully by Saracens, with mandatory rest weeks interspersed into the club schedule.
But he will also be determined to steer England forward under Steve Borthwick, clearly as a minimum for the medium-term.
Farrell will just have turned 36 by the time the 2027 World Cup starts in Australia, and England’s record points scorer will certainly have sights set on making that tournament.
The England talisman might not want to count any chickens on his chances of another World Cup, but his Test career will be full steam ahead for the foreseeable future.
“I want to play as long as I can – if I’m excited about what I am doing,” said Farrell.
“The two things go hand in hand because if you’re not excited, you won’t be playing for the teams you want to play for anyway. You won’t play to the standard that you want to.
"I love what I do, I’m passionate about it and I don’t see that slowing down any time soon"
“I love what I do, I’m passionate about it and I don’t see that slowing down any time soon.
“I absolutely love what I do. You see the way some of the boys have come back from this international period and performed for their clubs, that’s because they’re enjoying being back at their clubs and the challenge that’s in front of them at the time.
“We’re unbelievably lucky and I’m unbelievably lucky to do something that I’m really passionate about. I don’t see that changing any time soon.”
While Farrell may not set any outright targets like pinpointing the Lions tour in 2025 or the World Cup two years later, he is experienced enough to keep the biggest prizes in the back of his mind.
“I wouldn’t sit down and set targets, no, I wouldn’t, but they are in the back of my head, quietly,” said Farrell.
“I wouldn’t be one to say I have written this down, this down and this down, and this is what I want to achieve, and this is what I am working for every day. But they are in the background.”
England should have 25 players signed up to hybrid RFU and club contracts next season, in a big development for the club and country relationship.
Farrell will clearly be in line for one such two-tier deal, though all the details are yet to be ironed out.
Maro Itoje’s Saracens contract expires next summer, and England will now have a bigger role to play than ever in helping convince top stars to stay on home soil.
The fine print in the RFU part of a hybrid deal could tip the balance for the likes of Itoje to spurn lucrative offers from overseas.
Farrell expects England’s players will have input into the changes that are likely to come on stream for next term.
“We want the best players playing for England and if they’re not in the Premiership they’re not able to play for England,” said Farrell.
“That’s as simple an answer as there can be for that.
“As players you have ideas overall but you hope that there is a lot of work going on in the background on a lot of things you don’t quite understand as a player.
“We come back and go straight into playing, we don’t sit there and work out how the program would be best built for us moving forward.
“The players now are not scared of giving their opinion and not scared of saying what they think. I am sure we will have input.”
