England captain Owen Farrell has admitted to being “massively” disappointed with himself - despite surviving Eddie Jones’ Calcutta Cup cull.
Jones axed a third of the team humbled by Scotland at Twickenham a week ago for tomorrow’s redemption mission against Italy.
Farrell lost his spot at fly-half to George Ford, but keeps both the armband and his place in the team by reverting to centre for his 90th cap.
“We are disappointed, massively disappointed, as am I with my performance,” said the skipper, who failed to get a tune out of England’s attack.
“Losing is not nice. You go through a range of thoughts and emotions, from disappointment to being a bit frustrated to excited about putting it right. We’ve definitely been through all of them this week.”
Mike Brown, England’s most-capped fullback and long-time team mate of Farrell, called for the Saracens star to be dropped.
But Jones refused to bow to the critics and Farrell has vowed to repay the faith shown in him.
“We are not all walking round, kicking stones and sulking,” he insisted. “We are excited to see what we can do about it.
“We are looking forward to showing our response, rather than talking about it. We want to bring the best out of ourselves. We want to attack the game and we want to do it from the off.”
Asked whether personal criticism had got him down, Farrell replied: “I care about obviously what the people who matter to me are saying.
“I care about trying to do the best I can and making sure I perform at the weekend. That’s what I’m bothered about.”
