BAGSHOT, England, (Reuters) – Three men will pull on an England senior shirt for the first time and walk out proudly together to face Scotland at Murrayfield tomorrow but the routes they have taken to get there could not have been more different.
Twenty-year-old tyro Owen Farrell, South Africa-born Brad Barritt and 30-year-old number eight Phil Dowson were the headline-makers when interim coach Stuart Lancaster stayed true to his word on Thursday, with five more uncapped players included among the replacements. Farrell, outstanding for Saracens this season, will start at inside centre and if he performs as nervelessly in the Six Nations opener as he did in front of the media pack on Thursday then England might well have solved the number 12 problem which has dogged them since Will Greenwood retired.
Farrell was always destined to play international rugby from the moment his toddler hands began swapping passes with his father Andy, a dual-code international and now England assistant coach.
His formative years were spent in Wigan as Andy led the town’s league team to 13-man glory but once he too switched codes he represented England at every junior level.
