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'Owen Farrell not in the top eight England flyhalves': Rusty Saracens cause for concern for faltering title favourites

(Photo by Dan Mullan - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

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.

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England World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson joined Scotland head coach and former International Gregor Townsend on All Access to reflect on some of their most iconic appearances in the Calcutta Cup.

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England World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson joined Scotland head coach and former International Gregor Townsend on All Access to reflect on some of their most iconic appearances in the Calcutta Cup.

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.

https://twitter.com/PatrickLewis123/status/1358115388811325440

https://twitter.com/LiveseyTheo/status/1358120346851934211

https://twitter.com/BraaiKing_Bad/status/1358122371283103747

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.

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S
SK 51 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

The way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.

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