{"id":8261,"date":"2012-02-24T02:33:03","date_gmt":"2012-02-24T00:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/rugby-unfazed-faz-leads-fledgling-england-forward\/"},"modified":"2012-02-24T02:33:03","modified_gmt":"2012-02-24T00:33:03","slug":"rugby-unfazed-faz-leads-fledgling-england-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-unfazed-faz-leads-fledgling-england-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Unfazed ‘Faz’ leads fledgling England forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Mitch Phillips<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

BAGSHOT, England<\/span> Feb 23 (Reuters) – England fans
\napproaching Saturday’s Twickenham game against Wales with
\ntrepidation would do well to spend time in the company of Owen
\nFarrell, the nerveless 20-year-old who will pilot the fledging
\nteam from flyhalf for the first time.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Farrell, who won his first two caps at inside centre in the
\naway Six Nations wins over Scotland and Italy, was given the
\nplaymaker reins after injury ruled out Charlie Hodgson, with
\nfit-again Toby Flood, last season’s first-choice, forced to
\nsettle for a place on the bench.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside Farrell, known as “Faz” by team mates almost in awe
\nof his startling maturity, Lee Dickson will make his first
\ninternational start at scrumhalf, as will number eight Ben
\nMorgan – all three men winning only their third caps.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

England’s starting team boast just 182 caps between them,
\nover 300 less than their rivals on Saturday, who start as
\nbookmakers’ favourites to complete their 20th triple crown.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Seven of England’s XV are making their first Twickenham
\nstart while the Welsh bench boasts more caps than the home
\nside’s starting team.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Such a scenario might be enough to send a quiver of doubt
\nthrough most players, but Farrell is firmly in the mould of his
\nflyhalf forerunner Jonny Wilkinson when it comes to ice in the
\nveins.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“You do get nervous but when you’ve got your job going
\nthrough your head and you talk yourself into what you’ve got to
\ndo I don’t think there’s anything else to think about and you
\nhave to concentrate on what’s in front of you,” he said.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’ve always had it but I’ve worked hard to learn as much as
\nI can. You learn the system and watch the games so you earn the
\nright to talk to other people – not boss them but try to lead
\nthem.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mitch Phillips BAGSHOT, England Feb 23 (Reuters) – England fans approaching Saturday’s Twickenham game against Wales with trepidation would do well to spend time in the company of Owen Farrell, the nerveless 20-year-old who will pilot the fledging team from flyhalf for the first time. Farrell, who won his first two caps at inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}