Farrell cleared to play again after false-positive Covid test
ENGLAND captain Owen Farrell has been cleared to face Australia on Saturday after his Covid case was confirmed as a false-positive.
Farrell missed the 69-3 rout of Tonga in the Autumn Nations Series opener at Twickenham after being forced to self-isolate because of the result of a PCR test taken on Thursday.
But he will now rejoin the squad after a review of the sample revealed that he does not have the virus with NHS test and trace giving the green light to leave quarantine.
The Saracens and Lions star had been due to start at fly-half and it was only announced 90 minutes before kick-off that he would not be in action against the Islanders.
His availability now leaves Jones facing the conundrum of who to pick in his midfield.
George Furbank proved an accomplished alternative as starting fly-half but Marcus Smith stepped off the bench and stole the show by inspiring a late avalanche of points despite entering the game with a leg injury.
The 22-year-old’s afternoon was marred only when he was elbowed on the floor in the 70th minute by Viliami Fine, who was sent off as a result.
Andy Farrell believes Ireland’s nine-try demolition of Japan has given him “competition all over the park” going into a mouthwatering clash with New Zealand.
The Irish warmed up for next weekend’s tantalising appointment with the All Blacks by blitzing the Brave Blossoms 60-5 in their opening fixture of the autumn.
Captain Johnny Sexton celebrated his 100th cap with 16 points, including a second-half try, while there was a hat-trick for Andrew Conway, plus further scores from James Lowe, Jamison GibsonPark, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki and Cian Healy.
Head coach Farrell reported no injury issues following the emphatic Dublin win and expects his players to “bounce into work” ahead of taking on Ian Foster’s three-time world champions seeking a seventh successive victory.
“We’ve got to the six Ws through lessons that we’ve learned and we want to make that seven, but we know that seventh is a tough ask coming into next week,” he said.
“We managed to get some good game time into lads that needed it and a full bill of health allows us to recover properly and bounce into work on Monday.”