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'Owen Farrell not in the top eight England flyhalves': Rusty Saracens cause for concern for faltering title favourites
By Sam Smith
There were suspicions going into England’s opening match of the year that a contingent of their players wouldn’t be ready for the intensity of the Six Nations. That fear came to fruition on Saturday when Scotland scored a first win at Twickenham in almost 40 years.
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The players in question, of course, were the side’s five Saracens, who’ve experienced a dearth of rugby thanks to the team’s demotion to England’s Championship club competition.
The RFU Championship is yet to kick off this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which means that Saracens, who were relegated following a salary cup breach, have played just a solitary competitive game in 2021 – against Ealing Trailfinders.
Billy Vunipola was the only England international to feature in that match, however. Vunipola’s Saracens teammates, Owen Farrell, Jamie George, Elliot Daly and Maro Itoje, meanwhile, have not played since the Autumn Nations Cup final in December last year – and it showed in the Calcutta Cup battle on Saturday.
While Itoje was his normal industrious self, causing havoc at the breakdowns and giving Scotland halfback Ali Price a particularly difficult time at the back of the ruck, Farrell and Daly failed to set the backline alight while George was out of sync with his lineout jumpers at crucial moments throughout the match.
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England coach Eddie Jones chalked up Farrell and Daly’s misery to the side’s lack of possession, which sat at just 35 per cent for the match.
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“The first half was had 25 per cent possession, I haven’t seen the second half stats but I don’t think it would be much higher than that,” Jones said following the game. “We had no ball so when you’re playing 10 with no ball it’s difficult.”
Even when the likes of Farrell and Daly did have clean ball, however, they struggled to help their team get on the front foot.
Stats obviously don’t tell the full picture, but Farrell actually had the ball in his hands more than his opposite, Finn Russell, but England’s midfield and wings combined for just 12 runs throughout the game, illustrating how rarely the ball was spread amongst the three-quarters.
Ex-Scotland coach Matt Williams was quick to put the boot into the Saracens contingent, suggesting the five “weren’t at the races”.
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Itoje, with a mark of 6 out of 10, was the best of the lot according to the RugbyPass player ratings for the game, while Farrell and Vunipola were handed scores of 5.
Fans on social media were also critical of the five Saracens players, suggesting that the group looked especially rusty – which is hardly surprising, given their lack of game time this year.
Wooh these boys look rusty. Must be nervous in front of a big crowd. #ENGvSCO #SixNationsRugby
— Hugh Terry ?? #BoycottIsrael (@Hugorelly) February 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/PatrickLewis123/status/1358115388811325440
https://twitter.com/LiveseyTheo/status/1358120346851934211
#ENGvSCO shocking stats from England they reflect a team that's not a team. They said #saracens players would either be hungry or rusty-guess which ?
— Martin Jones (@beakym) February 6, 2021
Can't help thinking these @Saracens boys are a bit rusty for @EnglandRugby maybe need to go and test themselves against @ealingtfrugby to sharpen up, don't you think @ptivory?#ENGvSCO
— Richard Hollis (@UsedCarHead) February 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/BraaiKing_Bad/status/1358122371283103747
Honestly, despite Scotland playing well, we have been so poor! The Saracens players look rusty, Farrell just keeps kicking it away when we finally get possession! Flat and no ideas! #ENGvSCO
— Matt Farr (@BadgerFarr) February 6, 2021
Many argued the loss was a direct result of Jones’ selections and that the likes of Farrell and George shouldn’t have been picked to play in the first place.
One even suggested that, on form, captain Farrell wasn’t one of the best eight English flyhalves at present.
https://twitter.com/idhb77/status/1358116153881673729
While there’s obviously some subjectivity to the matter, the likes of Joe Simmonds (Exeter), Marcus Smith (Harlequins) and Jacob Umaga (Wasps) have shown moments of brilliance for their Premiership clubs this year while George Ford (Leicester) has struggled in an off-form Leicester team – but is at least playing rugby week-in and week-out.
The expectation is that the Saracens players will improve as the Six Nations progresses, but England’s premier annual international competition is hardly the place for players to find form.
Despite the sorry showing, Jones will likely keep changes to a minimum for next week’s clash with Italy, especially given the latter’s limp showing against France in the opening match of this year’s competition.
