England captain Owen Farrell doesn’t get the appreciation he deserves, according to his former coach Eddie Jones. The Australian says his old fly-half’s record speaks for itself after another successful Rugby World Cup individually.
No player scored more points than Farrell during the recent tournament in France. He kicked 75 points for England on their run to the semi-final.
Farrell finished top of the scoring despite missing the first two matches through suspension. He also overtook Jonny Wilkinson as the all-time highest point scorer for England.
Jones admits Farrell can be seen as “unemotional and rigid” and says that goes against him in his public perception. However, he does not think that is a fair representation and says there is a lack of appreciation for what he has achieved in the sport.
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Jones said on the William Hill podcast Up Front with Simon Jordan: “When you look at what Owen Farrell has done within the game, he’s won every trophy there is to win other than the World Cup, and he’s been to the final of that. He’s the highest point scorer in the history of England rugby and he’s been a colossus in the game.
“Because he can be seen as quite an unemotional and rigid player, he doesn’t get the praise that he should get. The most emotional I have seen him was after the World Cup semi-final in 2019 when he said, ‘I am so proud to be English’.
“You could really feel his passion and his pride and you don’t often get that with him. I think he gets a bit of a hard time for that. I 100 per cent think that there is a lack of appreciation for him.”
Farrell and Dylan Hartley were England’s two main captains during Jones’ seven-year tenure as coach. The 63-year-old loved the balance he had between his two leaders.
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He added: “Dylan Hartley was my first England captain because he was what the team needed at that time. They needed to come out of themselves because they’d been through a tough period and they’d turned into a very respectful and nice team.
“They needed Dylan to come in and give the team a bit of life, which he did. Owen Farrell came in off the back of that and he was much more serious and tough.
“He was brilliant on the field, but off the field he wasn’t quite as good as Dylan. There are two types of leaders in rugby and if you can get both in your captaincy setup then you’ve hit the jackpot, and that’s what we had.”
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