Farrell only looking forward after England’s impressive November
Owen Farrell insists England are already looking to the future after finishing their November Internationals with a fine 37-18 victory over Australia at Twickenham.
Co-captain Farrell scored England’s final try after Jonny May, Elliot Daly and Joe Cokanasiga had already touched down in the Cook Cup clash.
England finish the month with three wins from four matches and have now recorded six straight wins over Australia for the first time, but Farrell wants his team to keep their eye on the prize ahead of a Rugby World Cup year in 2019.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We’re just looking one week at a time, this week we prepared for a tough Australia team. Those games are in the past now, we have to look forward.
“It’s pretty simple how we played, we played direct and took it to them and things seemed to go our way after that.”
It’s full time at Twickenham and England end the #QuilterInternationals with victory over Australia #ENGvAUS #CarryThemHome pic.twitter.com/Mx7J4tjD0q
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) November 24, 2018
Encouragingly for England, the likes of Kyle Sinckler, Mark Wilson and Cokanasiga impressed, while Manu Tuilagi came off the bench for his first international appearance since March 2016.
And Farrell is encouraged by the strength in depth at England’s disposal.
“I think we always back our players here,” he added. “We have a brilliant squad, every time you look over your shoulder there are brilliant players everywhere, it’s showed our togetherness. Hopefully that will get better.
“It’s good to see Manu back and beating people, but it’s all about the team in the second half.”
There was a moment of contention on the stroke of half-time when Australia were denied a penalty try when Farrell seemingly shoulder charged Izack Rodda.
It prevented the Wallabies from going in front after finishing the half strong, but visiting skipper Michael Hooper was unwilling to be drawn on the decision.
“I’ve got no comment on that,” he said. “I thought it was a really good contest the whole game. I think the game was played in a really good spirit throughout the day, it was back and forth.
“We were unable to get a run in the second half, our attack faltered a bit there.”
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