Farrell available to face Aussies after Covid false positive
FRUSTRATION OVER PCR TEST DISRUPTING PREPARATIONS
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 yesterday morning.
Frustratingly for England, the laboratory that reviewed the test determined on Saturday morning before the Tonga game that it was a false positive, yet Farrell was only told yesterday he could return to the squad’s main training base in Surrey.
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.
“Owen Farrell’s subsequent
PCRs have also been negative and therefore he has been released from self-isolation,” a Rugby Football Union statement added.
It concluded a confusing 48 hours which England wing Jonny May admitted left players wondering if the match would proceed and what role Farrell might play in it.
“It was stressful. It’s hard enough preparing for a Test match without all of that,” May said.
“I was worried about coming down to breakfast and the game not being on if we had had a few more positives. To perform under those conditions and distractions is credit to the team.”
Once it was discovered on Thursday evening that Farrell was the only member of Eddie Jones’ squad and staff to produce a positive result, it was requested that the sample be retested.
The following night England were told of the false positive, but they were then forced to wait for clearance from NHS track and trace and the UK Health Security Agency before the 30-year-old could leave self-isolation.
His availability now leaves Jones facing the conundrum of who to pick in his midfield, with England responding to the loss of their captain by overwhelming Tonga 69-3 in their Autumn Nations Series opener.
The first 82,000 full house at Twickenham for 20 months because of the coronavirus pandemic noisily celebrated a 11-try rout led by Jonny May, Ben Youngs and Jamie George, who each crossed twice.
George Furbank proved an accomplished alternative to Farrell 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 intention had been for Farrell and Smith to form a playmaking axis but Covid and Smith’s leg injury sabotaged that plan and instead the Harlequins prodigy had to wait until the 53rd minute to step off the bench.
Smith entered the fray at a time when England were becoming scruffy in the face of successful Tongan spoiling but his arrival gave Eddie Jones’ men a second wind and he picked a brilliant support line to finish a break by man of the match Henry Slade.
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.
Jones is likely to revert to his intended 10-12 alliance of Smith and Farrell but in doing so he would break up the highly-effective centre combination of Manu Tuilagi and man of the match Henry Slade.
England name their team for the clash against rejuvenated Australia on Thursday morning.