Daly still learning from Owen ahead of 50th England cap
Elliot Daly says the opportunity to learn from England team-mate Owen Farrell was highly influential in his decision to join Saracens.
The club team-mates are expectedtolineupinthesame backline when Eddie Jones’ Guinness Six Nations champions face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, with Daly poised to win his 50th cap.
Both players are targeting a return to form at the Principality Stadium, hoping that a thirdmatchsinceearlyDecemberwillhelpblowawaythecobwebsthathavegathereddueto relegated Saracens’ inactivity.
“Owen is always the most competitive guy on the pitch,” said Daly.
“Whether that’s training, gym, or even if we’re doing some silly games off the pitch, hesetstheexampleforallofus. For the past five or six years he has been the guy you want to stick around.
"His knowledge of rugby is amazing, what he’s been through as an England and SaracensplayerwinningEuropean Cups and Premierships.
“He’sprobablybeentheguy who has been to all the finals and understands what it takes towin.He’soneofthebestplayers in the world.
"Forme,halfmythingofgoingtoSaracenswastoplaywith
Owen, to learn from him every day. Over the years we have quite a tight bond now.
“He’s the type of guy who will give everything for the team to push us forward. I think his performances when he’s on it speak for themselves.
"The way he’s gone about
hisbusinesssofarinthesefirst few weeks of the Six Nations is exactly where he needs to be.”
Wales’ Ken Owens has warned England to expect no less intensity at an empty Principality Stadium than if there were 70,000 Welsh fans screaming at them.
“I think the two games we’ve played have been really physical, top-end Test matches,” Owens said.
“It feels exactly at the level we’ve had in previous years playing in Six Nations, how Test rugby should be played.
“It is different. In the Ireland game all the pyrotechnics stopped and then there wasthisdeathlysilence,which was almost surreal. You didn’t know what to make of it.
“It obviously does have an affect not having a crowd becauseyoufeedofftheenergyof thecrowdandthatatmosphere pushes on. As a professional player there’s no real excuse.
"You have to find your own motivation, that energy to play at the intensity needed in Test level.”
Joe Root has been England’s batting linchpin against Sri Lanka and India this winter but Graham Thorpe believes it is time for others to come to the fore and lighten the load on the Test captain’s shoulders.
Root is averaging 90.37 in four Tests this year, with firstinnings scores of 228 and 186 laying the groundwork for a 2-0 win in Sri Lanka while another double ton went a long way to helping England upset the odds in the series opener against India.
There have been supporting roles, most noticeably when Dom Sibley battled his way to 87 in the first Test in Chennai, but Root’s first misstep on the subcontinent coincided with a crushing 317run defeat as India levelled the series last week.
No touring batsman accumulated more than Moeen
Ali’s 49 runs across two innings, magnifying Root’s importance to England ahead of the pink-ball Test, which gets under way tomorrow at the newly-built Sardar Patel Stadium.
But Thorpe has called on the rest of the top-order to relieve some of the burden on Root in Ahmedabad this week. Asked how crucial it was for someone to do so, the England assistant coach replied: “Very important.
“Joehasbeeninreallygood form this winter but it is important. We constantly talk around trying to build the partnerships and hopefully that leads to getting first-innings runs, which will be crucial. We fell well short in the last Test match so clearing the minds and looking forward to this match.
“I’ve encouraged the players to view it as a challenge and one which they should embrace and excite them because if they do well and score runs against this Indian attack in their own country, they know they’ve earned their runs.”
India have hosted only one day-night Test in their history and their seamers took 19 of the 20 wickets to fall – the other was a run out – as they defeated Bangladesh in November 2019 at Kolkata.
There is an inkling that the conditions in the penultimate match of this series might tilt the balance a little in England’s favour after they struggled to deal with the spin-friendly surface at the Chepauk Stadium.
Jofra Archer declared himself fit to play this week after having a cortisone injection on an elbow injury that led to him missing the second Test.