Farrell you C++T

[Tuco Ramirez]

Come on Australia!!!

[Danno]

Don't be shy, tell us how you really feel

[BaldiePete]

Scotland fans.

[twitchy]

He didn't make the squad.

[Sandydragon]

I wouldn’t be this pissed off of Van Der Flier had got the nod. Curry seems like an odd choice given recent form.

I doubt that Farrell will have to regret his decision because the Australians are so bad.

[Oakboy]

I wouldn’t be this pissed off of Van Der Flier had got the nod. Curry seems like an odd choice given recent form.

I doubt that Farrell will have to regret his decision because the Australians are so bad.

There are 5 opensides on tour: Morgan, Pollock, VDF, Earl and Curry. It seems very odd to rank Curry the best currently even if he was, arguably, one of the best 2 or 3 in the world 5 years ago.

Based on performances in the tour matches to date, maybe the order is as above. Farrell had his team selection in mind before the journey began, presumably. There is nothing wrong with that provided only that they win comfortably, as they should.

Nine of the starting XV are aged 30 or above. Is that usual?

[Mike Boardman]

@TucoRamirez
While I'm not Owen Farrell's biggest fan, I'd like to say that the title of your thread is pretty much the reason the guy felt under so much stress - and the fallout from that was affecting his family too - that he quit his "job". It's exactly why social media generally is a lamentable development.

[bruce]

wrong Farrell dude

[paddy no 11]

@TucoRamirez
While I'm not Owen Farrell's biggest fan, I'd like to say that the title of your thread is pretty much the reason the guy felt under so much stress - and the fallout from that was affecting his family too - that he quit his "job". It's exactly why social media generally is a lamentable development.

Swings the other way too, farrell goes around smashing people in the head and behaves like a cunt on the pitch, that's him, he gets a pass from the press and judiciary because of who he is. People are entitled to call bullshit imo, just because he lives in a bubble and can't hack it when he's called out is tough shit, just like he said when he's smashing people about the head

[pompey-zebra]

wrong Farrell dude

Though it probably says something that he naturally assumed it was Owen. To be fair, he probably wasnt alone.....

[paddy no 11]

wrong Farrell dude

QED

[Tuco Ramirez]

@TucoRamirez
While I'm not Owen Farrell's biggest fan, I'd like to say that the title of your thread is pretty much the reason the guy felt under so much stress - and the fallout from that was affecting his family too - that he quit his "job". It's exactly why social media generally is a lamentable development.

[Mikey Brown]

@TucoRamirez
While I'm not Owen Farrell's biggest fan, I'd like to say that the title of your thread is pretty much the reason the guy felt under so much stress - and the fallout from that was affecting his family too - that he quit his "job". It's exactly why social media generally is a lamentable development.

Swings the other way too, farrell goes around smashing people in the head and behaves like a cunt on the pitch, that's him, he gets a pass from the press and judiciary because of who he is. People are entitled to call bullshit imo, just because he lives in a bubble and can't hack it when he's called out is tough shit, just like he said when he's smashing people about the head

He’s definitely got carried away and put in some cheap shots before, but I’m not sure about that take. “Smashing people in the head” feels slightly disingenuous when we’re talking about a game built around aggressive tackling. It’s bad/overzealous technique, not like he’s losing it and lamping folk.

There’s no question that his competitiveness is OTT at times, but I thought the whole “knock lumps out of each-other on the field and then have a beer after” thing was a pretty foundational sentiment in the game - as cringe as it is to write those words.

I think all that is quite separate from the media, disciplinary, nepotism stuff, over which he has no control. That seemed to be the foundation of crowds turning on him, and the stuff that prompted him to take a break. I’ve wanted him dropped from the starting side for years but I thought that was all a bit sad the way it played out.

“Cant hack it when he’s called out” seems incredibly uncharitable, and I think slightly missing the point of what he was objecting to.

[paddy no 11]

@TucoRamirez
While I'm not Owen Farrell's biggest fan, I'd like to say that the title of your thread is pretty much the reason the guy felt under so much stress - and the fallout from that was affecting his family too - that he quit his "job". It's exactly why social media generally is a lamentable development.

Swings the other way too, farrell goes around smashing people in the head and behaves like a cunt on the pitch, that's him, he gets a pass from the press and judiciary because of who he is. People are entitled to call bullshit imo, just because he lives in a bubble and can't hack it when he's called out is tough shit, just like he said when he's smashing people about the head

He’s definitely got carried away and put in some cheap shots before, but I’m not sure about that take. “Smashing people in the head” feels slightly disingenuous when we’re talking about a game built around aggressive tackling. It’s bad/overzealous technique, not like he’s losing it and lamping folk.

There’s no question that his competitiveness is OTT at times, but I thought the whole “knock lumps out of each-other on the field and then have a beer after” thing was a pretty foundational sentiment in the game - as cringe as it is to write those words.

I think all that is quite separate from the media, disciplinary, nepotism stuff, over which he has no control. That seemed to be the foundation of crowds turning on him, and the stuff that prompted him to take a break. I’ve wanted him dropped from the starting side for years but I thought that was all a bit sad the way it played out.

“Cant hack it when he’s called out” seems incredibly uncharitable, and I think slightly missing the point of what he was objecting to.

@TucoRamirez
While I'm not Owen Farrell's biggest fan, I'd like to say that the title of your thread is pretty much the reason the guy felt under so much stress - and the fallout from that was affecting his family too - that he quit his "job". It's exactly why social media generally is a lamentable development.

Swings the other way too, farrell goes around smashing people in the head and behaves like a cunt on the pitch, that's him, he gets a pass from the press and judiciary because of who he is. People are entitled to call bullshit imo, just because he lives in a bubble and can't hack it when he's called out is tough shit, just like he said when he's smashing people about the head

He’s definitely got carried away and put in some cheap shots before, but I’m not sure about that take. “Smashing people in the head” feels slightly disingenuous when we’re talking about a game built around aggressive tackling. It’s bad/overzealous technique, not like he’s losing it and lamping folk.

There’s no question that his competitiveness is OTT at times, but I thought the whole “knock lumps out of each-other on the field and then have a beer after” thing was a pretty foundational sentiment in the game - as cringe as it is to write those words.

I think all that is quite separate from the media, disciplinary, nepotism stuff, over which he has no control. That seemed to be the foundation of crowds turning on him, and the stuff that prompted him to take a break. I’ve wanted him dropped from the starting side for years but I thought that was all a bit sad the way it played out.

“Cant hack it when he’s called out” seems incredibly uncharitable, and I think slightly missing the point of what he was objecting to.

My memory is of him targeting guys high deliberately, and knowing there's no cummupenxe continues to do it in era where cte is a very real thing. To me this is rank behaviour

Why did crowds turn on him? Is there a player out there who was worse for high shots? Plenty been said about the retired nz no 7 who was at similar it's not just a farrell thing

[Mikey Brown]

I guess I’m drawing a distinction between “tackling guys high deliberately” meaning he’s always looking out for the man-and-ball league style big hit, staying on his feet and allowing others to deal with it, and actually going around trying to injure people or hit them in the head.

I think it’s much more the former, and it still wasn’t a good look, but again being the media darling and getting off light isn’t really on him.

Him getting an extra lenient ban going in to the World Cup seemed to be the big spark for a lot of people turning on him. I don’t know how clear it is whether it was really England fans booing him or not, but it’s pretty pathetic and certainly feeds in to the notion of Twickenham being full of wankers that don’t really care about the game.

It seems the scale of online abuse was just as far out of proportion as most other discussion around him tends to be. It sounds like it got very personal and affected his family. Categorising that as him not being able to hack it just doesn’t feel fair.

Again, I’m not really a fan in general. His aggression and physicality is a blessing and a curse, and he wasn’t very good at striking the balance, but I don’t put him in the same category as people like Bakkies Botha who just seemed to enjoy hurting people.

[paddy no 11]

I guess I’m drawing a distinction between “tackling guys high deliberately” meaning he’s always looking out for the man-and-ball league style big hit, staying on his feet and allowing others to deal with it, and actually going around trying to injure people or hit them in the head.

I think it’s much more the former, and it still wasn’t a good look, but again being the media darling and getting off light isn’t really on him.

Him getting an extra lenient ban going in to the World Cup seemed to be the big spark for a lot of people turning on him. I don’t know how clear it is whether it was really England fans booing him or not, but it’s pretty pathetic and certainly feeds in to the notion of Twickenham being full of wankers that don’t really care about the game.

It seems the scale of online abuse was just as far out of proportion as most other discussion around him tends to be. It sounds like it got very personal and affected his family. Categorising that as him not being able to hack it just doesn’t feel fair.

Again, I’m not really a fan in general. His aggression and physicality is a blessing and a curse, and he wasn’t very good at striking the balance, but I don’t put him in the same category as people like Bakkies Botha who just seemed to enjoy hurting people.

My recollection was that his behaviour was worse than you describe and that he revelled in hurting people

Abuse of family etc is clearly not acceptable

[Puja]

I guess I’m drawing a distinction between “tackling guys high deliberately” meaning he’s always looking out for the man-and-ball league style big hit, staying on his feet and allowing others to deal with it, and actually going around trying to injure people or hit them in the head.

I think it’s much more the former, and it still wasn’t a good look, but again being the media darling and getting off light isn’t really on him.

Him getting an extra lenient ban going in to the World Cup seemed to be the big spark for a lot of people turning on him. I don’t know how clear it is whether it was really England fans booing him or not, but it’s pretty pathetic and certainly feeds in to the notion of Twickenham being full of wankers that don’t really care about the game.

It seems the scale of online abuse was just as far out of proportion as most other discussion around him tends to be. It sounds like it got very personal and affected his family. Categorising that as him not being able to hack it just doesn’t feel fair.

Again, I’m not really a fan in general. His aggression and physicality is a blessing and a curse, and he wasn’t very good at striking the balance, but I don’t put him in the same category as people like Bakkies Botha who just seemed to enjoy hurting people.

My recollection was that his behaviour was worse than you describe and that he revelled in hurting people

Abuse of family etc is clearly not acceptable

I'm no great fan of his, but I think you're misremembering that - there's never been anything of him deliberately seeking to injure people or revelling in hurting someone. He's just clumsy and incompetent.

Puja

[Oakboy]

It's many years since I posted amything praising Owen Farrell. However, he is reported in the press as having been heard geeing up the players with words like "you shouldn't leave it to a 21 year-old to motivate you."

So, both old and new did a full 80 and were flat-out verbally and physically for it.

Two things piss me off about that, though. Farrell gets 7/10 and is on most pundits bench for the 2nd test. Meanwhile nobody notices Pollock's leadership and whole-field contribution. He gets 5/10 and probably won't wear the red shirt again.

It's not OF's fault, of course, but if he is the mentality guru that the professionals claim, you'd think the same people would notice his comments about Pollock. Also, it does not say hell of a lot about the attitude of the other thirteen on the field at any time.

[Mr Mwenda]

It's many years since I posted amything praising Owen Farrell. However, he is reported in the press as having been heard geeing up the players with words like "you shouldn't leave it to a 21 year-old to motivate you."

So, both old and new did a full 80 and were flat-out verbally and physically for it.

Two things piss me off about that, though. Farrell gets 7/10 and is on most pundits bench for the 2nd test. Meanwhile nobody notices Pollock's leadership and whole-field contribution. He gets 5/10 and probably won't wear the red shirt again.

It's not OF's fault, of course, but if he is the mentality guru that the professionals claim, you'd think the same people would notice his comments about Pollock. Also, it does not say hell of a lot about the attitude of the other thirteen on the field at any time.

I recall O'Connell (I think) making a similar comment about Farrell in I think the first lions series the latter participated in.

[paddy no 11]

I guess I’m drawing a distinction between “tackling guys high deliberately” meaning he’s always looking out for the man-and-ball league style big hit, staying on his feet and allowing others to deal with it, and actually going around trying to injure people or hit them in the head.

I think it’s much more the former, and it still wasn’t a good look, but again being the media darling and getting off light isn’t really on him.

Him getting an extra lenient ban going in to the World Cup seemed to be the big spark for a lot of people turning on him. I don’t know how clear it is whether it was really England fans booing him or not, but it’s pretty pathetic and certainly feeds in to the notion of Twickenham being full of wankers that don’t really care about the game.

It seems the scale of online abuse was just as far out of proportion as most other discussion around him tends to be. It sounds like it got very personal and affected his family. Categorising that as him not being able to hack it just doesn’t feel fair.

Again, I’m not really a fan in general. His aggression and physicality is a blessing and a curse, and he wasn’t very good at striking the balance, but I don’t put him in the same category as people like Bakkies Botha who just seemed to enjoy hurting people.

My recollection was that his behaviour was worse than you describe and that he revelled in hurting people

Abuse of family etc is clearly not acceptable

I'm no great fan of his, but I think you're misremembering that - there's never been anything of him deliberately seeking to injure people or revelling in hurting someone. He's just clumsy and incompetent.

Puja

I went back there had a look as there was a tackle v wasps that stuck in my memory and yup, it's as bad as I remember

I'll exit the discussion at this point, other than to say I'm not the op and have never taken to social media to abuse owen farrell

[Banquo]

I guess I’m drawing a distinction between “tackling guys high deliberately” meaning he’s always looking out for the man-and-ball league style big hit, staying on his feet and allowing others to deal with it, and actually going around trying to injure people or hit them in the head.

I think it’s much more the former, and it still wasn’t a good look, but again being the media darling and getting off light isn’t really on him.

Him getting an extra lenient ban going in to the World Cup seemed to be the big spark for a lot of people turning on him. I don’t know how clear it is whether it was really England fans booing him or not, but it’s pretty pathetic and certainly feeds in to the notion of Twickenham being full of wankers that don’t really care about the game.

It seems the scale of online abuse was just as far out of proportion as most other discussion around him tends to be. It sounds like it got very personal and affected his family. Categorising that as him not being able to hack it just doesn’t feel fair.

Again, I’m not really a fan in general. His aggression and physicality is a blessing and a curse, and he wasn’t very good at striking the balance, but I don’t put him in the same category as people like Bakkies Botha who just seemed to enjoy hurting people.

My recollection was that his behaviour was worse than you describe and that he revelled in hurting people

Abuse of family etc is clearly not acceptable

I'm no great fan of his, but I think you're misremembering that - there's never been anything of him deliberately seeking to injure people or revelling in hurting someone. He's just clumsy and incompetent.

Puja

This....I would also add (over) committed....and the latter is why team mates and coaches appreciate him, for all his flaws. To me though, that's a minimum standard.

[Which Tyler]

I'm no great fan of his, but I think you're misremembering that - there's never been anything of him deliberately seeking to injure people or revelling in hurting someone. He's just clumsy and incompetent.

This

I went back there had a look as there was a tackle v wasps that stuck in my memory and yup, it's as bad as I remember

If you're basing your entire argument around 1 bad tackle, then A] n=1 (especially given than his "n" for bad tackles is somewhere in the hundreds), and B] he's done so many bad tackles, your going to need to be more specific than just the opposition team

I still haven't forgiven him for "that" tackle of Ant Watson in the 2015 Prem final, which should have been a yellow card (at least) - but I wouldn't say it was malicious, just terrible.
He's certainly no Callum Clark

[Puja]

I'm no great fan of his, but I think you're misremembering that - there's never been anything of him deliberately seeking to injure people or revelling in hurting someone. He's just clumsy and incompetent.

This

I went back there had a look as there was a tackle v wasps that stuck in my memory and yup, it's as bad as I remember

If you're basing your entire argument around 1 bad tackle, then A] n=1 (especially given than his "n" for bad tackles is somewhere in the hundreds), and B] he's done so many bad tackles, your going to need to be more specific than just the opposition team

I still haven't forgiven him for "that" tackle of Ant Watson in the 2015 Prem final, which should have been a red card - but I wouldn't say it was malicious, just terrible.
He's certainly no Callum Clark

That right there is the difference. Even if you take the tackle on Charlie Atkinson that you referenced (which I would agree was one of the worst), it's clearly a fuck-up rather than intentional - he's expecting Atkinson to continue going wide so he's pre-emptively lunging for a dive, but he's out of control, way too high, and has misread what's happening, so it ends up in a horror show. However the second after he makes contact, he's apologising, hands raised, he goes over to check on Atkinson - that's not someone "revelling in hurting people". It's an overcompetitive pillock who sometimes rolls back to terrible technique when he's tired/frustrated/trying to make a difference.

Compare that to Clark who was in control, against a pinned player, and chose to bend his elbow backwards, then showed no remorse whatsoever (even to the extent of getting mitigation from his ban by promising to send a letter of apology that Hawkins never actually received). That's someone who goes out to injure people.

Puja

[Numbers]

I guess I’m drawing a distinction between “tackling guys high deliberately” meaning he’s always looking out for the man-and-ball league style big hit, staying on his feet and allowing others to deal with it, and actually going around trying to injure people or hit them in the head.

I think it’s much more the former, and it still wasn’t a good look, but again being the media darling and getting off light isn’t really on him.

Him getting an extra lenient ban going in to the World Cup seemed to be the big spark for a lot of people turning on him. I don’t know how clear it is whether it was really England fans booing him or not, but it’s pretty pathetic and certainly feeds in to the notion of Twickenham being full of wankers that don’t really care about the game.

It seems the scale of online abuse was just as far out of proportion as most other discussion around him tends to be. It sounds like it got very personal and affected his family. Categorising that as him not being able to hack it just doesn’t feel fair.

Again, I’m not really a fan in general. His aggression and physicality is a blessing and a curse, and he wasn’t very good at striking the balance, but I don’t put him in the same category as people like Bakkies Botha who just seemed to enjoy hurting people.

<iframe width="1680" height="929" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BtsEyyQlQhA" title="Owen Farrell not knowing how to tackle" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I think he is fully aware of what he's doing, he targeted George North with head shots for years, if I could remeber all the games I'd get the footage but this was during North's repeated concussion period so that shows the sort of player/person Farrell is.

[Banquo]

I guess I’m drawing a distinction between “tackling guys high deliberately” meaning he’s always looking out for the man-and-ball league style big hit, staying on his feet and allowing others to deal with it, and actually going around trying to injure people or hit them in the head.

I think it’s much more the former, and it still wasn’t a good look, but again being the media darling and getting off light isn’t really on him.

Him getting an extra lenient ban going in to the World Cup seemed to be the big spark for a lot of people turning on him. I don’t know how clear it is whether it was really England fans booing him or not, but it’s pretty pathetic and certainly feeds in to the notion of Twickenham being full of wankers that don’t really care about the game.

It seems the scale of online abuse was just as far out of proportion as most other discussion around him tends to be. It sounds like it got very personal and affected his family. Categorising that as him not being able to hack it just doesn’t feel fair.

Again, I’m not really a fan in general. His aggression and physicality is a blessing and a curse, and he wasn’t very good at striking the balance, but I don’t put him in the same category as people like Bakkies Botha who just seemed to enjoy hurting people.

<iframe width="1680" height="929" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BtsEyyQlQhA" title="Owen Farrell not knowing how to tackle" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I think he is fully aware of what he's doing, he targeted George North with head shots for years, if I could remeber all the games I'd get the footage but this was during North's repeated concussion period so that shows the sort of player/person Farrell is.

Meh, I get annoyed when he gives away pens, but nearly all the examples in there are ball targeting a la rugby league. Even the dump tackle wasn't horrendous and even possibly legal then. Him scrapping on the floor after a late high shot is regrettable but understandable. I'm no fan as is clear, but I don't think he's aiming to hurt people any more than anyone else on the park.