Owen Farrell has revealed he has changed his mental approach to goal-kicking after falling below his usual high standards during the Six Nations this year. The Saracens and England fly-half says he was “overthinking” his place-kicking and is now trying to be less obsessive about it.
Farrell is the third-highest point-scorer in the history of Test rugby behind Dan Carter and Jonny Wilkinson but he has endured some frustrating days this season, not least against Wales in Cardiff when he landed only two of his six attempts. “I’ve obviously thought about it,” said Farrell, well aware of the need to keep the scoreboard moving in the Premiership semi-final against Northampton this Saturday.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to be a person that doesn’t think about it enough. It’s probably more the other way that’s been the problem over periods of this year. Thinking too much, trying to find the fix, trying to think my way through a lot of it. When you’ve been kicking for a long time, getting out of your own way is probably the key. That’s been what I’ve been working on.
“What I want to get back to is enjoying being out there, kicking balls over the posts and seeing how well I can strike them. Almost like you’re a kid messing around again. I’ve done enough technical work over the course of my career … I don’t want to bog myself down. In a lot of what I’ve been doing I feel that has been the case.”
For years Farrell’s customary sideways glance up towards the distant posts has been the inevitable prelude to him hitting the target but he now believes a less intense attitude is the better way ahead. “It’s more that I’m not constantly trying to figure everything out … trying to bounce around fixing things and ending up losing everything almost. I’ve just stopped trying to think my way through everything. I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.
“Sometimes the more you think about something the more it becomes a problem. I feel I’ve been a little bit like that. That doesn’t mean you don’t miss. It just means that when you miss you’re not as bothered.”
Saracens, meanwhile, remain focused on making up for their defeat in the Premiership final last season with the director of rugby, Mark McCall, keen that they give a better account of themselves in this year’s playoffs. “It wasn’t so much losing last year’s final, it was how we lost it which is the thing that is driving us,” McCall said.
“It felt like we played within ourselves. Anyone can lose a final – knock-out games are hard to win – but when you don’t feel you have given it a proper go you carry that all summer. I guess that has driven this season to a degree.”
Scotland have omitted Fraser Brown, Sean Maitland and Ruaridh McConnochie from a 41-man summer training squad ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France this year. The head coach, Gregor Townsend, has also signed a new three-year contract designed to keep him in the job until at least April 2026.
