Rugby World Cup: England skipper Owen Farrell delivers inspiring team talks to pin-drop silence, says Jamie George
TOMORROW evening in the England players’ room at Tokyo’s Keio Plaza Hotel, Owen Farrell will come into his own.
On the eve of every match, it is the same. The captain’s meeting, where Farrell invites his men to get things off their chest, then delivers his own stirring message to pin-drop silence.
This week, before the biggest match of their lives — Saturday’s World Cup final against South Africa — will be no different.
In a fascinating insight into Farrell’s character, and the inner workings of this England team, hooker Jamie George has revealed his skipper’s inspirational qualities.
Farrell, 28, is rarely engaging when speaking to the media but when you hear George’s glowing tribute, you understand there are hidden depths.
George said: “I just can’t wait for Friday. That is his meeting.
“Friday night we have a meeting and we call it a captain’s meeting, a team meeting. There are no coaches in the room.
“He asks us how we are feeling and if anyone has anything to say.
‘HANGING ON HIS EVERY WORD’
“Often people will get something off their chest if they are thinking about the game and then he says his bit and, without fail, you could hear a pin drop.
“Everyone is hanging on every word he says.
“It is very inspirational without tearing the roof down, because that is probably not what is needed, but he has a very good feel of what the team needs and what messages to deliver.
“We have been doing it for a long time. There’s been short meetings and others lasting half an hour, 40 minutes.
“It varies on how much the other lads want to speak. Often they don’t.
“But usually Mako Vunipola will say his piece, Maro Itoje often has a little bit, Courtney Lawes speaks a little bit.
“I think in Owen’s mind it’s nice to hear from people who haven’t often been speaking, who haven’t got a huge leadership role.
“He often draws on their experiences, and sees how they’re feeling. There is always going to be an element of tactical talk. But I’d say it’s 90 per cent emotion, ten per cent tactical.
“It’s not shouting and screaming — you are able to get your head down to sleep after it!
“No one is crying in there — oh, I don’t know, I might do this week!
“There might be a few people wanting to speak this week — I have certainly been in those meetings and I felt I’ve needed to say something.
“I don’t know whether I will this Friday but there might be some people who feel like they need to speak. And they often need that more for their own sake than the team’s sake.”
George has known Farrell since he was 14 and his future captain was 13 and has seen his leadership skills develop.
‘HE’S SOMEONE YOU CAN TRUST’
He said: “Owen has been a leader ever since I have known him. Back then it was probably a lot more shouting, because of frustration more than anything but he has developed a huge amount.
“He is the sort of person you want to follow. He leads from the front but he’s a person you can trust and there’s also the amount of tapes that he watches.
“On the field he is still vocal. In the changing room, I don’t think he’s ever been shouty. He is very calm, he has got a lot calmer. He talks a lot about being in control of your emotions.
“There are times when we haven’t been quite on it in the warm-up. It never is a tough message, never a shouty message. But you see it in his eyes, it’s a look — and if he asks for more, we’re going to give him more.”
George, 29, is a huge cricket fan and a close friend of England limited-overs star Sam Billings, who is on tour in New Zealand — where he has been enjoying bragging rights since England’s brilliant semi-final demolition of the All Blacks.
He said: “Billings was actually very smug being out in New Zealand, wearing his England gear around the place.
“The video came out of us watching their World Cup final and, having chatted to him, they will probably be sat around watching ours as well. It’s a cool thought.”
George says England’s rugby men can learn from the way their cricketing counterparts dealt with the extreme pressure of a tie-breaking Super Over in their World Cup final victory over New Zealand in July.
SIMILAR TO ENGLAND CRICKET HEROES
He said: “A big thing that I have thought about is your ability to perform your skill under the highest pressure.
“If you think back to that Super Over and the run-out off the last ball — Jason Roy’s throw — he had to pick the ball up first, the ball is coming at speed.
“He’s done it a thousand times before but doing it under that pressure knowing that he needs to get it there in that moment . . . then Jos Buttler taking the stumps.
“I read Jason Roy saying all he could think about was getting the ball into his hands. He was thinking about the process rather than the big picture.
“I’ve spoken to England one-day cricket captain Eoin Morgan a few times about their team culture.
“They had been through more of a rollercoaster ride than we have in this tournament but there are similarities over the last two seasons or so.”
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The rugby boys enjoy regular games of corridor cricket at the team hotel.
And George said: “A dream of mine would be to be a dual international — rugby and cricket.
“I’ve probably got other things to focus on in the next few days but then potentially I might start thinking about it!”