- Owen Farrell will join French side Racing 92 at the end of his current contract
- Farrell heads for the exit door alongside the Vunipolas and Alex Lewington
- England exiling the exceptional Jack Willis makes no sense, writes Chris Foy
Owen Farrell admitted his head was ‘a bit all over the place’ after being denied a Twickenham farewell as Northampton edged a semi-final thriller 22-20 at Franklin’s Gardens.
England’s record points scorer and long-time captain had hoped to sign off at the scene of so many of his greatest memories before moving with his family to Paris to begin a new chapter with Racing 92.
Instead it is England team mates Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam who get to make their farewells at Headquarters in a Saints side which will contest next weekend’s Premiership Final against either Bath or Sale.
‘It’s sad that this season is done and it’s now done for a few of us here,’ said Farrell, who heads for the exit door with the Vunipola brothers and Alex Lewington. ‘We showed enough fight and heart to give ourselves a chance but we didn’t get there in the end.
‘My head’s a bit all over the place. I’ve spent most of my life at this club. I’ve loved it. I’ve loved all of it.’
Remarkably, Farrell played his final game with a torn quad muscle in his right leg, unable to train since Monday when he sustained the injury in training.
He could not even take part in the warm-up and director of rugby Mark McCall later admitted he was not sure the 118-times capped England and Lions star would play until the game actually kicked off.
Typically, Farrell was there and still set the emotional tone as the Londoners started with the bristling intent you would associate with one of his sides, as well as the memory of 2015, when Saints last hosted a semi-final as top dogs and Sarries ransacked their home.
On that occasion it was Farrell’s boot that did the damage, kicking 19 points. This time it was out of action yet he fizzed the ball left and right, forcing Saints into one defensive set after another. When the home side were inevitably pinged trying to repel the onslaught, Elliot Daly calmly popped them over.
This was everything former Northampton captain Tom Wood had feared beforehand when warning that for all their dominance and sparkling play through the regular season ‘none of that counts for anything on a Friday night in a semi-final’.
At 6-0 Sarries his concerns were well founded, indeed it was not until the start of the second quarter that the men in green got onto the front foot – and they owed that to a Sarries blunder.
A mishit clearance by Lucio Cinti was fielded by Alex Mitchell along the left touchline and quick as a flash the England scrum-half moved the ball infield to Burger Odendaal.
The no-nonsense South African muscled his way deep into enemy territory and when the ball was recycled was back in place to take a sweet scoring pass from George Furbank.
Saracens had no cause to panic and minutes later Jamie George looked to have restored their lead only for his try to be called back after the TMO spotted the England skipper offside in the build-up.
It was a key moment as Northampton escaped back upfield and Fin Smith struck three penalties in quick succession to put them 10 clear at the break.
Northampton’s pack now took over, winning six scrum penalties but this is Saracens, six-time Premiership winners and a club that never flinches – even when called every name under the sun for salary cap-breaches that led to them being kicked out of the league for a year.
They could not, would not, recognise a lost cause and Farrell, inevitably, provided the spark, accelerating into a hole and threading through a grubber for Lewington to score.
Daly’s nonchalant conversion reduced the deficit to three and Saints were suddenly faced with the uncomfortable thought of a year of excellence going down the tubes.
To their credit they too kept playing. Mitchell thought he had scored in the corner only to be denied by a spectacular tackle from Juan Martin Gonzalez.
Even when Saints did give themselves breathing space, with two late Smith penalties, Saracens would not go away, Cinti crossing for a try in the last minute.
Once again Daly added the extras and they were on the attack again when Lawes, of all people, put an end to their heroic resistance with the game-ending turnover.
As the whistle went and Farrell put his hands on his hips and looked to the ground, Lawes raised an arm in salute.
McCall spoke of how ‘very emotional’ he felt about it being Farrell’s last game and paid tribute to his playmaker’s ‘incredible’ contribution to the club over 15 years.
A few yards away Lawes called his team into a huddle and addressed his players. ‘We have proved we can beat the best,’ he told them. ‘But we have got an important job to come next week. This will mean nothing if we don’t turn up.’