Owen Farrell a major doubt for Scotland clash as leg injury forces him out of Friday training session

Chris Jones10 March 2017

Owen Farrell is a major doubt for the Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland tomorrow with a leg injury that forced him to miss England’s final training session today.

England’s main goal-kicker ran into a team-mate during training yesterday and received immediate treatment from medical staff, who were continuing to work on the injury today while the rest of Eddie Jones’ squad trained in the drizzle at Twickenham.

If vice-captain Farrell is sidelined, the kicking duties will fall to outside-half George Ford, with Elliot Daly another option. England insist that Farrell has not been ruled out, but contingency plans are in place, with Ben Te’o preparing to fill the inside centre role and Jonny May moving on to the replacements’ bench.

That is how the team lined up at training today, although a final decision on Farrell will not be taken until tomorrow, with a 4pm kick-off allowing Jones more time to ponder his decision.

England are chasing a world record-equalling 18th win — a task that will prove tougher without Farrell, who is the second-highest points scorer for his country behind Jonny Wilkinson.

Farrell has been England’s most consistent back as they chase a second successive Grand Slam, although former rugby league star Te’o has made vital try-scoring contributions in recent matches. England’s defence will not be affected by his inclusion, as the 17st centre hits harder than most backs, but he does not possess the distribution skills of Farrell, whose passing excellence was highlighted when creating space for Daly to score the match-winning try against Wales.

Weekend four of the Six Nations gets under way tonight, with Wales hosting Ireland in a match that will draw a big TV audience. England, though, are still refusing to play home matches on Fridays. Their opening 2015 World Cup game against Fiji bucked that trend, but took years of planning.

RFU chiefs have made it clear that despite pressure from Six Nations organisers, they will not change their stance and risk the ire of local residents and MPs.

RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie told the Times: “We are not in discussions with the Six Nations about hosting Friday night matches at Twickenham. Our position hasn’t changed.

“We don’t generally support Friday night games at Twickenham for a variety of reasons, not least the challenge for the fans of getting to and from the match.”

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Scotland, meanwhile, are trying to put pressure on England by claiming the favourites tag is weighing heavy on the reigning champions.

Harlequins wing Tim Visser, who is in great form for the Scots, said: “We are going to where they say is a daunting place, but we are looking forward to it. The last couple of weeks we have played exciting rugby. England know how to win games but I don’t think they’ve been winning as smoothly as they always have. We have to give it our best, but I think the pressure is on them.”

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