Owen Farrell attacks his own teammate moments before almost having nose broken
A lot happened in the space of 30 seconds at the StoneX Stadium in Sunday as Saracens hosted Edinburgh in the Heineken Champions Cup. A lot.
It all started with Owen Farrell throwing and interception pass. This saw Edinburgh’s Damien Hoyland race down field, but get dragged down just metres from Saracens’ line. After some unreal try line defence from prop Marco Riccioni and hooker Jamie George, Edinburgh span it wide where it looked like there would be a certain try. But Farrell and Nick Tompkins were miraculously able to hold up centre James Lang.
However, before Farrell made the try saving tackle, there was a bit of friendly fire which saw the England captain deck his own teammate for club and country Mako Vunipola.
While desperately trying to track back and join the defensive line, Vunipola accidentally wandered into the most dangerous part of the field. He found himself blocking Farrell, who was trying to drift wide to cover in defence. The fly-half had no choice but to push the prop over in order to make the tackle.
In the process of making the tackle, Farrell was actually whacked in the nose by Lang, who was struggling to break free and ground the ball. This left him with a red nose and bandaging up his nose for the rest of the match.
Take a look:
Redemption! 😲
Giving the ball up for what looked a clear Edingburgh try, to making the last-ditch tackle to hold it up 🙌
Incredible from Owen Farrell 👏#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/6K2Z5woPRk
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) December 11, 2022
Farrell even said after the match that he “deserved it”. Having thrown the pass that was intercepted, the 31-year-old said to BT Sport after the match: “It was my fault, so I deserve it.”
This was all on the way to Saracens securing a hard fought 30-26 victory at home, where they were actually trailing for large portions of the match. It was only some resolute defending at the death that ensured they came away with a victory in the opening round of the competition.
Owen Farrell was frank as ever about @Saracens performance, but he did have warm words for all Eddie Jones did for his career
“He’s always been a brilliant coach for me, and for that I’m going to be massively thankful” 🙏 #HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/onHso8H91F
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) December 11, 2022
