KNOCK OUT BLOW
Inspired by Anthony Joshua’s strutting ring walk, now iceman Farrell is ready to deliver the...
WHEN Owen Farrell steps out at Murrayfield this afternoon, there could be a moment when his mind flashes back to Anthony Joshua’s ring walk at Wembley.
Farrell (below) was sat ringside for the 11-round heavyweight battle with Wladimir Klitschko and took mental note of Joshua’s body language as he strutted on to the canvas.
‘ He just looked like a champion, didn’t he?’ said the No 10, who will be the headline billing in today’s Champions Cup final between Saracens and Clermont Auvergne.
‘He’s some specimen. During that cameo — walking into the arena — he looked like someone fully in control . . . someone who knew exactly what he wanted to do.
‘When a guy like Wladimir Klitschko wants to knock your head off, that’s impressive.
‘As a rugby player, you see that and try to take it into these big occasions. I used to watch Mike Tyson when I was a kid. He was an animal. He was so powerful and he just seemed to do whatever he wanted. To see it close up was brilliant.’
It was one champion watching another. Once the other VIPs had returned to their free champagne bar, Farrell stood surrounded by empty seats to catch a final glimpse of boxing’s new king.
He is England’s iceman at the age of just 25 and has mastered his own self-control — having fallen short in previous semi-finals and finals with Saracens until last year.
‘ I remember in our first Heineken Cup final, when we lost to Toulon in 2014,’ he explained. ‘I was walking around the hotel on the morning of the game just thinking, “How good is this? How good is it to be playing in a Heineken Cup final?”
‘Looking back, I was just making myself nervous. If you’re around the lads, you’re all right. Last year, when we won in Lyons, we just played indoor cricket all morning. If you’re sat in your room on your own, your mind can start to wander.
‘The team is everything in our sport. I suppose Joshua has a support team in the buildup to a fight, but once he steps out on the canvas he’s out there on his own. It’s not like that for us. At Saracens, we’ve constantly got each other to pick you up or help out.’
That seemingly unbreakable bond has developed since the Brendan Venter era.
Conversation cubes are used in training; a set of dice that are rolled that bring up a specific question to spark debate and create connection between team-mates. Three weeks ago, the squad had a mid-season jaunt in Barcelona, where they shared four-litre bottles of vodka by the beach after beating Munster in the semi-final. Farrell abstained to spend the weekend with family in Dublin, before returning to the club to prepare for Clermont, who he has now faced four times during his career. ‘ We have learned some big lessons against Clermont,’ he said. ‘Our first quarter- final at home, they completely overpowered us. We lost a semi-final there and faced them in the group stages, then we had the semifinal we won at Twickenham. The thing about Clermont is they’ve been up there for a long, long time — longer than we’ve been there. They’ve got a lot of big-game experience, but we like to think we do, too. We’re miles apart from that team we used to be.
‘When you’re first involved in big finals, you probably make it into something it’s not. You play the occasion. At the end of the day it’s a game of rugby, albeit a tense one. You’ve just got to treat it like any other game otherwise you start doing things you wouldn’t normally do. We don’t build stuff up in the week. We’re pretty relaxed. We just get a good plan in place.’
Control is a constant theme in Farrell’s thinking. Who was his idol as a youngster? ‘Andrew Johns.’ Why? ‘Because he controlled everything.’ Did he have his poster? ‘No, because mum said it would wreck the paint.’
Johns was an Australian rugby league half-back who had the tackling ability of a back row, and retired as the all-time leading points scorer in domestic club competition.
‘You want to be up there for a number of years,’ said Farrell. ‘You don’t just want to win one and then never be seen again.
‘When you feel good about yourself and happy with what you’re doing, the only other thing you can do is improve. You are never going to win them all. As long as you’re in a place where you’re improving, success will come. Look at your Man Uniteds or Chicago Bulls. You try to learn from these guys.’
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