Wily Owen Farrell met by chorus of boos from Bath crowd
Though the penalty kick to deliver a victory for Saracens over Bath on Friday night was as simple as kicks come for Owen Farrell, he made sure he used every second of the minute allotted to him.
With the scores locked at 12-12 at the Rec between the then-second-place Bath and the third-place Saracens in the Gallagher Premiership, Farrell had a penalty right in front of the hosts' posts with just three minutes remaining.
For a player that has 1,271 Test points, this kick was a guaranteed three points, but the former England captain wanted to make sure he wasted as much time as possible to prevent Bath from securing a comeback win having been 12-0 down at halftime.
Equally, Farrell has overstepped his mark before, and was famously timed out at the World Cup last year against Samoa while taking a penalty.
The 32-year-old was not going to let history repeat itself though, and even had referee Luke Pearce serve as his personal timekeeper as the seconds ticked down.
This did not go down too well with the Bath crowd though, who made their displeasure felt.
Farrell was unmoved though as he sipped his Lucozade and sauntered to the tee to knock over the three points.
Saracens held on for a 15-12 win to leapfrog Bath into second place in the league, putting them in place to earn a home semi-final with two rounds remaining.
Farrell was named player of the match in a display that he said the reigning champions felt "more comfortable".
“It is a tough old place to come. It always has been, but especially this year,” Farrell told TNT Sports.
“They are a top, top side. For us to come here and stick in the fight like we did after a couple of tough results we’ve had of late was tremendous.
“We’ve gone back to being a little bit more ourselves today. We felt more comfortable.
“By no means was that perfect. There were loads of mistakes, but we fought for each other and we enjoyed doing it.”
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Hey Ben, Thanks for your opinion article. As a die hard rugby tragic and loyal supporter of the game can I say your article seems a touch negative so I would like to offer a slightly different spin on it. I am assuming that the sole purpose of the Super Rugby competition is not just to be a training camp for the International teams but an independent event and competition in its own right with sponsors, media companies and teams that need a financial return. Now, from this rugby fans perspective, I am enjoying the last few weeks of the competition and enjoying the fact that most teams can still make the play offs and nobody wants the wooden spoon. Most rugby followers would agree to it being a travesty if the Crusaders or the Waratahs now made it to the final but history tells us it is very unlikely with the importance of home ground advantage. Playing each team once and a four team final would give the competition integrity and a level playing field for all teams but I would be surprised if it could satisfy the financial demands of the TV rights. Maybe a six team finals series might be a possible compromise.
Go to commentsAll good choices John, even the Tah players ha ha. Others that might be worth a look would be ; Cale, Tom Lynagh, Uru, Keunzle, Anstee and maybe Rory Scott because we need a backup to McReight and he has improved a lot from last year and Tim Ryan.
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