'A cool-headed, tenacious leader': Jonny Wilkinson and Owen Farrell prepare for Twickenham showdown

Ahead of Owen Farrell’s clash with former England fly-half, Steve Borthwick talks of his admiration for Sarries’ No10
26 April 2013

Captain Steve Borthwick could be talking about Jonny Wilkinson as he lists the reasons why Owen Farrell has become critically ­important to Saracens’ bid to reach their first Heineken Cup Final.

The build-up to Sunday’s titanic semi-final against Toulon has been dominated by the looming head-to-head between the 2003 World Cup-winning icon and the current England No10, who on Tuesday will be named in the Lions squad for Australia.

In recognition of Wilkinson’s importance to Toulon, the former England outside-half will captain the French side at Twickenham, a stadium that showcased so many of his match-winning Test appearances.

That only increases the pressure on Wilkinson to deliver a performance to prove he remains one of the world’s leading No10s and, according to his Toulon team-mates, he should also be heading to Australia with the Lions.

Wilkinson, 33, does not expect to tour as Lions head coach Warren Gatland is largely ignoring French-based players, which puts the spotlight firmly back onto Farrell.

At 21 years old, Farrell is at the start of his Test career, having played 16 times for England compared to Wilkinson’s 91 caps. However, Farrell exhibits many of the attributes Wilkinson offered England when he burst onto the Test scene in 1998.

Borthwick has watched Farrell — son of Lions backs coach Andy — handle the pressure of having a famous father and also assume the role of Sarries’ tactical fulcrum.

So how does Borthwick see the battle, heading into the club’s second ever Heineken Cup semi-final.

”There are a lot of comparisons,” said the former England captain. “Owen is a very young man but his preparation and mindset and competitive spirit are fantastic.

“He has become a leader of the team in his own way and has been involved in the start of this era.

“He is so tenacious and works so hard. We talk about consistency and Owen delivers every week with an abrasive performance and leads by example.

“While he is so physical, aggressive and competitive, he also has this ability to be calm-headed to lead the team around the pitch and make good ­decisions. How Owen has developed this at a young age is incredible and I feel very fortunate to take the pitch with him.

“He has been a leader of this team since he came into it at 19 years old. We are very fortunate to have him.”

In many ways, Toulon have copied the template Saracens created when professional rugby was born in 1995. Having owner Nigel Wray and his deep pockets on board, Sarries brought World Cup-winning Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, Wallaby great Michael Lynagh and French superstar Philippe Sella to London and a host of big names have followed.

Sarries can still boast a Springbok World Cup-winning captain in John Smit but the South African influence that used to dominate has been diluted with young English players coming into equation — led by Farrell.

Toulon have a healthy English contingent headed by Wilkinson and including the Armitage brothers, Delon and Steffon, but owner Mourad Boudjellal has used his millions to scour the world for top talent and the squad are hugely impressive. They will be supplemented by Springbok wing Bryan Habana and Wallaby flyer Drew Mitchell next season.

With a salary cap of around £8.6m in France compared to the £4.5m Sarries must live within, Toulon have bigger financial clout and that is why the Premiership leaders have made more modest signings in the form of Wasps No8 Billy Vunipola and Harlequins prop James Johnston for next term.Borthwick has been a huge influence this season, winning line-out ball against every opposition and was key to the quarter-final win over Ulster at Twickenham.

He is confident Sarries can deal with the star-studded Toulon squad and added: “We have been in some pretty tough situations, including being down 13 points at various periods of the Racing Metro game in Nantes but came through. We have guys who are incredibly courageous and keep going.”

Arguably, the most important player will be Farrell, who is relishing his battle with a player he idolised when growing up. This week Farrell will have been studying Wilkinson’s statistics and his main concern will be that he has missed 11 tackles in seven European matches this season, while the former Newcastle man has failed just three times.

However, Farrell’s points tally is comfortably better than his rival, outscoring him by 92 to 72.

This semi-final — Clermont Auvergne take on Munster in the other match in Montpellier tomorrow — will be settled by the boot. The battle between the two No10s will be compulsive watching and I expect Wilkinson to come out on top.

These Amlin Opta statistics highlight the importance of both players to their teams in the seven Heineken Cup matches they have each played this season:

Carries made

Farrell 12 - 29 Wilkinson

Wilkinson is even more of a fulcrum than his opposite number and has carried the ball more than double the times Farrell has.

Kicks made

Farrell 27 - 62 Wilkinson

Wilkinson has gained 161metres to Farrell’s 59m and has kicked 62 times in play to the Sarries player’s 27 which goes some way to dispel the view that the Premiership leaders put boot to ball more than any other team.

Drop goals

Farrell 0 - 1 Wilkinson

Wilkinson, who kicked the most famous drop goal in rugby, has landed one of his four efforts but Farrell has drawn a blank from his three attempts.

Total points

Farrell 92 - 72 Wilkinson

However, Farrell can take comfort from his points total of 92 which is 20 better than Wilkinson’s.

Brought to you by Amlin, proud sponsor of European rugby, in its fourth season as Title Partner of the Amlin Challenge Cup and Premium Partner of the Heineken Cup

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