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How Owen Farrell feels being on cusp of beating Wilkinson record
By Liam Heagney
England skipper Owen Farrell has played down the hype about him surpassing Jonny Wilkinson this Saturday to become his country’s all-time record points scorer.
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The starting No10 versus Samoa needs just two points to overtake Wilkinson’s benchmark of 1,179 which has stood since the final Test match of his career, the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarter-final versus France in Auckland.
However, becoming the England points record holder isn’t something at the foremost of Farrell’s mind heading into a Pool D finale where Steve Borthwick’s team are looking for an impressive performance to take with them into their upcoming October 15 quarter-final in Marseille, most likely versus Fiji.
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“I haven’t given it too much thought,” said Farrell after he was the only player from the starting team that beat Chile 71-0 on September 23 to be retained to take on the Samoans.
“It’s not something that you like to think about too much before anything is done. My sole concentration is on the game at the weekend and preparing for what is a massive test against Samoa.
“The one thing I will say is it has been honour to have the chance to play for England as much as I have. To be in the vicinity of that record, to be able to play with this group of players and all the players I have played with before and staff, the one thing I would say is it has been an honour so far.”
Why will Farrell be kicking? His kicking has been very poor for quite some time and Ford has done very well in his absence. Ford should keep kicking responsibilities.