Bagshot (United Kingdom) (AFP) – England captain Owen Farrell has insisted his side won’t be distracted by any attempts to put them off their game shortly before kick-off in their showpiece Six Nations clash against Wales in Cardiff.
Saturday’s latest renewal of Anglo-Welsh rugby rivalry has been billed as a potential title-decider given both sides, the only unbeaten teams left in this season’s Championship, have won their opening two matches.
There has been plenty of verbal, if largely good-natured, jousting between England coach Eddie Jones and Wales counterpart Warren Gatland in the build-up but fly-half Farrell knows that might not be the end of it.
Four years ago then England skipper Chris Robshaw instructed his players to wait in the tunnel, given Wales were still in their changing room, as he feared the visitors would be kept waiting deliberately on the pitch on a freezing cold day
England won that match 21-16 and Farrell believes the current side can keep their composure should any similar stunts take place this weekend.
“If anything does get thrown at us, I’d expect or hope we would be calm enough to deal with it, whatever,” said Farrell.
– ‘No rabbits out of the hat’ –
England’s frontline playmaker and goalkicker added: “I am sure they (Wales) will be up for this game, we have got to make sure we are in the right place. But we want to be right for kick-off, not before that.
“Games like this, big games, are usually about doing the simple things well, not trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat.”
England head into the match top of the table after bonus point wins over Ireland, the reigning champions, and France yielded 10 tries in total.
Several of those scores have come off the back of tactical kicks, with Farrell the leading orchestrator but by no means alone given fellow England backs Elliot Daly and Henry Slade, among others, have also put boot to ball to telling effect.
But Farrell was adamant England were far more than a ‘one-trick pony’ in attack.
“We’re evolving and we’re not anywhere near where we want to be either,” he said.
“Everyone has talked about our kicking game and what that has created, but our kicking game is only effective if there is space there,” explained Farrell.
“And the space is only there if you are a threat with ball in hand. We’re making good decisions and that’s what rugby is about.
“We have got to continue to make good decisions because we can’t think that one way or another is going to work for us.”
– Roof rage –
England appeared to have gained a slight edge given Saturday’s fixture is set to be played with the retractable roof of the Principality Stadium left open.
Wales like to play with the roof shut as this suits their preferred running game but in the Six Nations, as opposed to one-off Tests, both sides must agree to ‘indoor rugby’.
The forecast is for a dry day in any event, and Gatland, while insisting the decision made little difference, was clearly annoyed the choice was no longer Wales’ alone.
“It won’t bother us,” he said. “The weather conditions are good. Whatever happens (with the roof), it will be a great atmosphere.”
Nevertheless, the New Zealander — in his final Six Nations in charge of Wales before standing down after this year’s World Cup in Japan — added: “It’s a bugbear of mine that we can’t decide in the Six Nations whether we can close the roof on our own stadium.
“It’s ironic that it’s our stadium and we can’t decide what we do with it.”
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