Owen aiming to talk good game
farrell wants to look and sound more composed
OWEN FARRELL returns to the England captaincy challenging himself to improve the way he communicates with referees.
Farrell leads the side against Argentina at Twickenham tomorrow, just 24 hours after being signed off following concussion.
In the absence of Courtney Lawes, the 31-year-old reclaims the armband with head coach Eddie Jones demanding England work with referee Andrew Brace.
Farrell has not always invited sympathy from officials with his body language, which occasionally strays towards confrontational. He said: “The challenge for me is the way that I play the game, the way I present myself at times when I’m playing the game.
“I don’t think always it’s necessarily what I say, it is sometimes making sure that you’re giving off the right message as well. It’s realising what is wanted from the other side as well.”
There is no player Jones would rather have in his team, waxing lyrical on the eve of battle about his “competitive spirit, unbelievable desire to win and ability to lead from the front and bring people with him”.
None of that is in doubt – the question is whether he can achieve even more for the cause by doing a better impression of Sam Warburton in his dealings with the man in the middle.
“There’s different captains all over the world,” Farrell said. “There’s been really, really calm ones that are good. And there’s been some explosive ones that have been really good as well.
“I want to be me and I want to work on how I be a better me.”
As Warburton proved when talking the referee down from a last-gasp penalty that would have cost the 2017 Lions a shared series in New Zealand, forging a working relationship with officials is a key quality. Just last month Jones spoke of the need “to have one of our leaders establish a good relationship” with the referee, adding that we “can’t have players yelling and screaming” at him.
He spoke of England’s “need” for Farrell, describing him as “the most energetic and one of the most committed players I’ve seen”.
Jones admitted that without him “we lose a huge percentage of our fight”. But he added: “We also need someone who is composed and speaks to the referee well.”
Against a hugely physical Pumas side fired up by Jones’ old Aussie sparring partner Michael Cheika, this is likely to test the temperament of all involved.
England appear to have the tools for the job.
Whether they have the right words, too, only time will tell.