CAPTAIN FARRELL IS CLEARED TO RETURN FOR AUSSIES CLASH
OWEN FARRELL is poised to lead England into Saturday’s encounter with Australia after being cleared to come out of isolation and rejoin the rest of the squad last night. The England captain was withdrawn from the autumn opener against Tonga after testing positive for Covid. However, the RFU announced yesterday that the 30-year-old’s sample had been sent for further laboratory analysis which revealed that his result had been a false positive. That revised verdict was accepted by NHS Test and Trace and subsequent tests on Farrell have been negative. In announcing the twist in the saga, the union insisted that the process they had followed ‘is fully in line with the advice given by the UK Health Security Agency’. There was some confusion about the exact timing of when the false positive came to light — last Friday night or on Saturday morning, hours before kick-off — but George Furbank had been primed to step in at 10 and he acquitted himself well in the circumstances. England’s head coach, Eddie Jones, now faces a selection dilemma. Marcus Smith was superb as a second-half replacement against Tonga and the original plan had been to pick him at fly-half with Farrell at inside centre. However, Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade renewed their midfield alliance to telling effect and neither of them deserve to be removed from the starting XV for the clash with the Wallabies. Meanwhile, Jones reacted to the growing acclaim for Smith, the precocious Harlequins playmaker, by admitting he will be on guard for any signs of all the hype going to his head. In warning of that potential danger, he used British tennis sensation Emma Raducanu’s recent struggles as a cautionary tale. ‘The big thing for good young players is distractions — exposure in the media, the praise they get, the criticism they get,’ he said. ‘There can be agents who see this guy as the next big thing. ‘There’s a reason why the young girl who won the US Open hasn’t done so well afterwards. What have you seen her on — the front page of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar or whatever it is — wearing Christian Dior clothes. All that is a distraction around her. ‘It might not be to that degree with Marcus, but it could be. So the guidance we can give him when he’s with us, the guidance that he gets from his parents — who I know, fortunately, are very good people — will be important, so he can keep his feet on the ground.’ Asked if Smith is grounded, Jones added: ‘He is, but they all start out grounded. No one starts with their feet off the ground or they don’t get in the team and don’t win a US Open. But a flood of distractions come, which can affect them.’ For all the excitement generated by Smith’s dazzling cameo, England’s veterans stars proved they still have lots to offer as the South Sea Islanders were brushed aside with ease. Jamie George, Jonny May and Ben Youngs scored two tries apiece, Manu Tuilagi marked his comeback with a vintage exhibition of his rampaging threat in midfield and Courtney Lawes delivered a monumental performance as stand-in skipper. They face tougher assignments in the coming fortnight but this was a promising statement of intent.