Ex Lion produces extreme Farrell tirade after historic England loss to Scotland
Scotland made it three wins in a row over England in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations at Twickenham, with a 29-23 win.
It was not the welcome to Test rugby that England head coach Steve Borthwick would have wanted, and now he will have some questions to ask ahead of a visit from Italy next week.
But there have been some interesting takes from the match, none more so than from former Wales No8 Andy Powell, who said that England will not win the World Cup with their captain Owen Farrell playing. The 2009 British & Irish Lions tourist wrote on Twitter during the match: “Smith is the future of English rugby. Farrell has been a great player but he will never win a World Cup for England while he is there sorry.”
That was written while England were actually winning, so once Scotland bounced back to actually win the match, the Welshman became much more blunt, writing: “Farrell has to go for England to succeed.”
Despite being the England captain and playing over 100 times for his country, it goes to show that Farrell will always be England’s most divisive player ever.
Smith is the future of English rugby . Farell has been a great player but he will never win a World Cup for England while he is there sorry
— Andy Powell (@andypowell8) February 4, 2023
Farell has to go for England to succeed
— Andy Powell (@andypowell8) February 4, 2023
England XV
15. Freddie Steward
14. Max Malins
13. Joe Marchant
12. Owen Farrell (C)
11. Ollie Hassell-Collins
10. Marcus Smith
9. Jack van Poortvliet
1. Ellis Genge (VC)
2. Jamie George
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. Maro Itoje
5. Ollie Chessum
6. Lewis Ludlam
7. Ben Curry
8. Alex Dombrandt
Replacements
16. Jack Walker
17. Mako Vunipola
18. Dan Cole
19. Nick Isiekwe
20. Ben Earl
21. Ben Youngs
22. Ollie Lawrence
23. Anthony Watson
Scotland XV
15. Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs) 96 caps
14. Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors) 5 caps
13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) 31 caps
12. Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) 11 caps
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby) 23 caps
10. Finn Russell (Racing 92) 65 caps
9. Ben White (London Irish) 9 caps
1. Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) 16 caps
2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) 30 caps
3. WP Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) 50 caps
4. Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 69 caps
5. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) – Vice Captain – 59 caps
6. Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby) – Captain – 36 caps
7. Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh Rugby) 2 caps
8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 28 caps
Replacements
16. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) 57 caps
17. Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) 25 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Glasgow Warriors) 31 caps
19. Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs) 72 caps
20. Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors) 4 caps
21. George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) 18 caps
22. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) 38 caps
23. Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby) 39 caps
