Tuilagi and Curry also had stand out games, in more good news for Borthwick.īut just as Saracens started to look like a spent force, their experience - this was their ninth final since 2010 – proved decisive. The second half was all about Sale, whose combination of power runners – with Manu Tuilagi making a thunderous impact, and Ford’s creative genius dominated proceedings, with tries by Tom Roebuck and Bevan Rodd deservedly giving the north west club the lead.
Yet for all Farrell’s brilliance, it looked to have only taken Saracens so far. Pulling the strings in this fashion, Saracens were worthy of their 20-13 lead, with a penalty try from Tom Curry’s tackle off the ball on Max Malins, who then scored himself from an all-court attack with Farrell putting him away. One minute he was ripping the ball out of the grasp of Manu Tuilagi, next he was firing a spiral bomb into the heavens for Max Malins to reclaim, and a stunning attempt at a 50-22 kick just before half-time was worth the entry fee alone. There was a spell at the end of the first half when Farrell was imperious, utterly dominating the contest with his nous and control. It was as if the rivalry against his old school mate, George Ford, brought the best out of him in what proved to be a compelling head-to-head, with the pair sharing two penalties a piece in the opening quarter.
POWDER GAME DAN BALL PROFESSIONAL
In the cauldron of his magnificent final, for which Sale deserve huge credit for the role they played in giving English club rugby the perfect boost it required at the end of the darkest season of the professional era, Farrell found 10 percent of his own. It looked a questionable decision when even Farrell’s goal-kicking failed him during the Six Nations, with Marcus Smith parachuted in for the defeat by France.īorthwick’s decision however was founded on the fact that Farrell is that kind of player whose influence and standard-setting in the squad tends to bring an extra 10 percent out of his team-mates. Last year former England head coach Eddie Jones seemed to signal that he had moved on from Farrell as his captain, in a manner that Dylan Hartley had been eased out of the way, admittedly with injury playing a part, going into the 2019 World Cup.įirst Tom Curry and then Courtney Lawes took over the England captaincy and yet despite dips in his form at the start of this season, when Borthwick succeeded Jones, it was Farrell whom he turned to in England’s hour of need.
“It feels like a family when you've been together as long as we have and you want to keep fighting for the group to make it a place where people want to stay and fight for 10 or 15 years,” said Farrell on Saturday night. He could not have known it then, but his leadership then would mark the first step of the club’s revival. Yet it was Farrell’s commitment to the club when everything seemed to be falling apart that was key to holding it all together, rallying his team-mates, probing, and then encouraging their loyalty at a key players’ meeting in January 2020. Yet at the centre of it all, McCall and his tight-knit coaching group, held firm and leant on their culture and ethos. Some players had to leave the club, others chose to, others went and returned. In the dark, dark days after Saracens' salary cap controversy erupted in November 2019, there were moments when the squad – and the club – could have completely unravelled. Yet this was much more than the 80-minute performance. Steve Borthwick is another who would have left the Twickenham stands with a smile on his face. It appeared they had not read the room.įarrell was unfazed, delivering a masterly performance in front of his father, Andy, the Ireland head coach, who could enjoy the moment as a proud dad for the afternoon. If anything, it added to the carnival spirit as players from both sides intervened and the pair departed the pitch to booing and showered by tossed drinks. Not even a couple of ‘Just Stop Oil’ protestors who briefly interrupted the contest by throwing bags of orange powder paint could spoil this sense of occasion. Saracens breached the rules and were rightly punished, but no one can deny them their champion status now, with England captain Owen Farrell delivering the finest performance of the season just at the right time. They may have stumbled at the final hurdle last season on their first return to the top flight with a last-gasp defeat by Leicester Tigers, but here, in one of the greatest Premiership finals on the hottest day of the year, this victory felt more worthy and impactful than any of their previous five titles. It has been a long, arduous, and punishing journey for Mark McCall’s side since their banishment to the Championship two years ago for their salary cap breaches, but finally redemption is theirs. Saracens are the champions of England once more. By Gavin Mairs, Chief Rugby Correspondent, at Twickenham
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