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Farrell is a rugby 'genius' and maybe 'the best player in the world'
By Peter Thompson
Jamie George hailed Owen Farrell as a "genius" after he produced another inspired display in England's Six Nations thrashing of Italy.
Farrell showed his all-round class, thriving in his role as captain in a 44-8 thumping of Les Bleus at Twickenham on Sunday.
Hooker George waxed lyrical over his Saracens and England team-mate following his latest masterclass.
"The bloke's a genius." said George. "I never see him have a bad game and that's why he's one of the best players in the world, if not the best player in the world.
"In my eyes, it's amazing to be playing with a fly-half and captain who is as dominant as he is and who leads from the front in the way that he does.
"Owen's been a captain and leader for a long time now. It's not a new thing for us but he does it really well and it brings the best out of him in terms of his game.
"He's performing really well."
England are top of the table after bonus-point wins over Ireland and France, but George says there is room for improvement ahead of a potentially decisive showdown with Wales in Cardiff a week on Saturday.
"We have to be aware that we did well against France but recognise that it wasn't the perfect performance," said the forward.
"We really did a lot of analysis. We focused on ourselves a lot this week and tried to make sure we put our best performance out there.
"We still didn't do that so an exciting thing for us is there's still a lot to come. The important thing for us is to keep the ball rolling."
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Latest Comments
GB = England, Scotland, Wales. UK = England, Wales, Scotland, NI
Nothing to stew son.
Go to commentsTupaea is a natural 12. What is it with you kiwis and playing players out of their positions. Is that some sort of national sport? Is that on purpose? You’ve got an utility back and a winger at 12 and 13 respectivelly. You played Savea at 8 for ages, wasting the potential of one of the world’s three best players in the last 4-5 years.
ALB is equally effective at 12 and 13, so why not have him or Tupaea at 12, and Proctor at 13? God forbid you’d have two midfielders playing at their natural positions! There must be a law in New Zealand, that prohibits that. Small sample size, but Proctor walked on water in his international debut at 13.
But the kiwi selectors seem to love Rieko’s speed, so as long as the horse is fast enough, they decided they’ll teach him to climb trees anyway.
You don’t have a better 10 than BB and Mo’unga. DMac is a more instinctive attacker (almost as good as Mo’unga … almost), but doesn’t have BB’s game-controlling skills. You have and will lose games due to his aimless kicking and spur-of-the-moment inventions none of his team mates are able to read at the international pace. Works okay at Super Rugby level, doesn’t mean it’s transferable to test matches. But hey, suit yourself.
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