Owen Farrell has vowed to play on “as long as he can” as the England fly half sets his sights on continuing to drive standards for club and country.
Farrell remains one of England’s most influential figures and re-established himself as Steve Borthwick’s first-choice fly half during the Rugby World Cup, starring in the quarter-final win over Fiji and almost kicking his side to semi-final victory.
The Saracens playmaker turned 32 during the tournament but has performed well across the last 12 months and, while a number of his long-time international teammates have retired, appears likely to lead England into the Six Nations.
Farrell, already England’s leading points scorer, could well become his country’s most-capped male player in the next couple of years – 16 more appearances would take him past the now-retired Ben Youngs.
And, while stopping short of committing to any specific targets through to the next World Cup in 2027 or the British & Irish Lions tour in 2025, both taking place in Australia, Farrell has suggested he is intent on at least a few more years in an England shirt.
“I love what I do and I’m passionate about it and I don’t see that slowing down anytime soon,” Farrell said at the Investec Champions Cup launch at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. “I absolutely love what I do. You see the way some of the boys have come back from this international period and performed for their clubs, that’s because they’re enjoying being back at the clubs and the challenge that’s in front of them at the time.
“We’re unbelievably lucky and I’m unbelievably lucky to do something that I’m really passionate about. I don’t see that changing any time soon.
“I want to play as long as I can, if I’m excited about what I am doing. If I’m not, then I won’t do what I want to do anyway – I won’t play for the teams that I want to play for and I won’t play to the standard that I want to.
“I wouldn’t sit down and set targets, but they are in the back of my head, quietly. I wouldn’t be one to say, ‘I have written this down, this down and this down’, and that is what I want to achieve, and this is what I am working for every day. But they are there in the background.”
Farrell is thought to be out of contract at the end of the season, but is expected to remain at Saracens on a marquee agreement.
He is also a likely recipient of a proposed “hybrid contract” that will afford England greater control over a group of 25 key players, with negotiations continuing over deals that will form part of a revamped Professional Game Partnership (PGP).
The introduction of the contracts will represent a new era for the sport in England, and Farrell’s club and country colleague Jamie George said at the end of the World Cup that he was hopeful that players would have a significant say in negotiations over the future.
The England captain is a prominent voice for his squad and is certain that he and his teammates will be able to make themselves heard at a time of real flux.
“I feel like, as a group of players at England now, if we had any concerns we’d voice them,” Farrell explained.
“I think the players now are not scared of giving their opinion and not scared of saying what they think. This is an interesting time in terms of everything going on.
“You hope there is a lot of work going on in the background on a lot of things you don’t quite understand as a player. We come back and go straight into playing, we don’t sit there and work out how the programme would be best built for us moving forward.
“I’m comfortable the players are clued up enough and interested enough to make sure that they’re involved every step of the way.”
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