Owen Farrell revealed a blueprint for England’s multi-dimensional space race, after being recalled to lead the national team into their second World Cup warm-up.
The 31-year-old has been restored to the No 10 shirt by head coach Steve Borthwick, for the clash with Wales at Twickenham on Saturday. Farrell will captain a formidable Red Rose line-up full of power and experience – and he knows that they are in a hurry to establish an effective game-plan.
Two young backs will hope to provide the spark. Ollie Lawrence is fit to line up in midfield and Farrell suggested he can have a crucial, direct impact, saying: ‘You can’t go around people all the time, can you?
‘You have to hold them in the middle. If people start seeing the threat that you’re moving the ball, then the space is through the middle. It is important that you have good, solid line runners. There are many different ways of doing that, but having some pure power is definitely one of them.’
Out wide, electric wing Henry Arundell is poised for a second Test start at the age of 20 and Farrell knows he can provide a vital cutting edge if provided with some ammunition.
Owen Farrell will lead the national team into their second World Cup warm-up against Wales
Farrell will be hoping to snap England’s three-match losing streak (Wales, Ireland and France)
Asked what England have to do to properly unleash the prodigy, he said: ‘Try to give him the space, first and foremost. I’m not on about perfect space, a big overlap – I’m on about trying to do your job on the inside so that he maybe gets half a chance on the outside, because that’s all he needs.
‘We all know what we can do with the ball in hand. It doesn’t feel like you have to do too much work with Henry other than to hold up the middle, and give him half a space, maybe less. We want him to be himself.’
England fans were left disgruntled by a pragmatic approach last weekend, as their team slumped to a third straight Test defeat; 20-9 against the Welsh in Cardiff. But ahead of the return fixture, the skipper emphasised that the space race is a varied mission; narrow or wide, using power or pace, hands or feet.
‘Everyone thinks attack just comes from throwing the ball around and that’s not the case,’ he said. ‘It’s a lot of things working together, so that there is space.
Farrell is expecting youngsters Ollie Lawrence (left) and Henry Arundell (right) to make a big impact
The space can be (in the) back-field, the space can be through, it can be round, short side, any which way. What we want from our attack is to make good decisions and go to it, keep momentum and keep the team on the front foot.
‘There’s no point just chucking the ball backwards, to get caught behind the gain line. We’ve got to work hard in every department to make sure those cogs work together so we can take opportunities – and those opportunities come in different ways.
‘We’ve been working on being ready to do everything, hopefully – run, pass, kick, rip down short sides, move the ball to the opposite side of the field, go through teams, go around teams, put pressure in every which way and make good decisions, ultimately.’
In the quest for space and attacking fluency, Farrell also heralded the return of Billy Vunipola at No 8 and a first start for another fellow Saracen, Ben Earl, at openside flanker.
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