Not fazed: Andy Farrell
Assistant coach Andy Farrell says England are tacking former Scotland coach Jim Telfer's accusation of "arrogance" with a pinch of salt.
Telfer commented in the English press this week that Stuart Lancaster's team "are not as good as they think they are" going on to label them "arrogant...pretentious and...condescending."
But Farrell has dismissed the jibes as hackneyed cliches designed to get the Scots fired up ahead of Saturday's Calcutta Cup showdown at Twickenham, insisting that the English managment team have worked hard to eradicate any sense of arrogance in their camp
"I definitely don't recognise anything he has said," Farrell told PA Sport.
"People say this every year about the English anyway. It has stuck now. That is why we take it tongue-in-cheek. We know exactly what we are about.
"A couple of the lads have seen it and they are all taking the mick out of each other. They think it's quite funny about those who have been mentioned. There are a few jokes flying around the place.
"He's Scottish isn't he, very passionate about his country and he wants to give his lads as much belief as he can," added Farrell.
"He cares about his country. It is him trying to do the right thing by his own country, to try and motivate them.
"That is what he has always been about really - passion and stirring a few feathers up along the way. It is what you want, a bit of passion."
Comments
Frazermackie says...
@rugbylover South Africa have won two world cups with 60 percent and nz with 75 percent so that shows they crash back to reality and have struggled to win crucial games.
Posted 00:17 31st January 2013
heart_of_oak says...
J-HDK - I totally agree. Our media, and a lot of fans, build the team up way too much and if we then lose, these same people will disappear.
France have damn good players in all positions and will certainly give us a very tough game.
The Scots will be smarting from bad defeats and probably eager to impress their new coach. They will be desperate to overturn a poor run so they won't be a pushover by any means.
The Irish - we rarely beat them away so that will be very tough too.
The Italians are getting better and better and have beaten France in the past. Anyone reckon that'll be an easy game ?
The Welsh ? Going by Telfer's remarks, they'll turn over in bed and go back to sleep, right ? No, I don't think so. They will raise their game massively against England and they're playing in Wales so they have added motivation.
In my view, there will not be any easy games.
Posted 17:38 30th January 2013
lawynd says...
I'm with rugby_rockstar on this, at worst Telfer's words will have zero effect on the team; at best, it will drive them to prove him wrong. We get stereotyped as a people on a daily basis by the ignorant worldwide, why would the geriatric ramblings of Telfer hit any harder?
And for those of you bemoaning the UK/English press, why are you reading it if it's so terrible?
Posted 13:40 30th January 2013
rugbylover says...
Any idea what the censored [filtered] non PC words are?
Scot?
Scotch?
Scottish?
C'mon PR Editor - a challenge.
Print your PC list
Posted 13:05 30th January 2013
Lucasrg says...
England rugby is not arrogant...BBC is. enough said.
Posted 12:05 30th January 2013
carpelone says...
How can you be modest when we are the best?
Posted 10:36 30th January 2013
rugbylover says...
As a proud, & somewhat surprised England supporter - still basking in that hammering of NZ, may I just offer to my NZ friends - yes, it was once every tenth time - & all the sweeter for that. And yes, Tuilagi was graceless - but he's young.
And yes, Stuart Lancaster & Andy Farrel have begun to weld a really good English team - which may go on to great things. Fingers crossed. Who knows, they might even beat NZ twice in a row - it's happened befor.!
Posted 10:20 30th January 2013
rugbylover says...
@Frazermackie
This was about England - but you may care to consider the All Black's 75% success rate [nearest is SA on about 60%] before you comment further.
Posted 10:14 30th January 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
I'm a proud english fan. and we've seen Eddie Jones, Imanol Harinordoquy, Warren Gatland, Jonathan Jefferys and hundreds more mouth off before the match and then watch their respective teams get pasted on the advertising hordings by an england team who decided to ram their words back down their throats. Thanks for the good omen Jim. Thanks for focusing the players.
There's also been alot of belittling of jim telfer that is just untrue. he's been out of the game since 1999 which is what i put this unfortunate foopah down to, but he won the five nations in that year, kicking france's backside in paris along the way and giving england a scare at twickham too. who watch him on the living with lions DVD and he is an inspirational man to have on your side. He's human, he's messed up, but if you're a lions fan then you probably haave a soft spot for the cantankuous old so and so. who doesn't smile when he's arguing with the springbok fan in the crowd in the 3rd test??? :) I like him and I thank him for giving england a nice boost before the calcutta cup clash. ...Even if he didn't mean to. ;)
Posted 09:39 30th January 2013
Propmelsey says...
Telfer is average at best ..... If he were an English coach, well below average ... got a lucky break with the last worthwhile lions tour in 97 & didn't really do a lot on that!! I think that's the root of his problems to be honest ... inadequany ...... As for the Game last year when England beat New Zealand.... i didn't think we played overly well we played better in the other games in my opinion .. i think we were maybe a little under par after 3 tough games .... The New Zealand team put up a brilliant effort .... But fortunately we had enough in the tank to get the win that had been on the cards after the previous 2 games .... LOTS to improve on .. but a reasonable performance on the day ....... I'm expecting at leats a 30% improvement on the New Zealand performance this weekend ...... GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! x
Posted 07:53 30th January 2013
Frazermackie says...
@isograford The all blacks have never got ahead of themselves I suppose! Lets just think back to the last 20 odd years without a World Cup before very nearly losing another!
I think confidence in ability is easily confused with arrogance. Some if these guys in the England side should have been around longer than they have. Great to have a coach who was willing to blood good young confident players.
Posted 03:05 30th January 2013
J_HDK says...
The problem 4 times out of 5 isn't arrogance displayed by the team that pisses everyone off. It's the sports commentators in the England centric UK media that drive the rest of us up the walls
Posted 01:48 30th January 2013
Waz4before says...
a good response from the english coaching team here where I'm sure Telfords motivation is face-time for himself and motivation of the Scotland squad so you can hardly blame him. No doubt some of England's past behaviors (particularly in the 18th Century ;-) are deserving of some of these arrogant comments but realistically its xenophobes like Isograford that keep these "issues" alive ..
As for the comment on wales ... maybe he has a point, I've no idea whether its true or not (and have never heard it said before) but assuming Telford hasn't lost is marbles maybe there's something in it ..?
anyway, I've no doubt England & Wales will do their talking on the pitch with Scotland starting as favorites in a 2-way battle for the wooden spoon with Italy - but you're only as good as your next match, not your last; bring it on :-)
Posted 00:42 30th January 2013
NHsaints says...
The scottish do seem to get away with borderline rascism sometimes (to their Celtic and Anglo-Saxon neighbors at least) under the tag of 'national pride'. That aside England haven't been arrogant for years, the media play them up then every other nation jumps on us when we lose because nobody likes England (apparently there's some sort of residual-post-british-empire/post world cup 2003 hatred towards us from old enemies and ex-colonial nations). The only country with any real reason to have gripe against us that isn't old and outdated is France and that's because we're always doing battle in world cups, for 6 nations titles, Heinken cup semi's and as the only other real NH vs SH contenders and they're one of the few nations who don't even stir up the media like Scotland, Ireland and Wales before games Scotland have got to see that they're being nostalgic and they need to stop living on the slam they got in the last year of the amateur era and move forward into the new era and new decade and actually win some games.
Posted 22:54 29th January 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
@isograford - how many times have you brought the subject up now? starting to sound like some kind of hang-up
Can't believe the geriatric rantings of a long since uninvolved Scotsman are getting so much coverage - probably fair to say that England won't need much extra motivation.
Posted 22:13 29th January 2013
JamieTheProp says...
As an Englishman I recognise that in the past we has been arrogant - leading up to 2003 we expected, as a team, to beat anyone put before us and generally we did. I think every team with the 'best in the world' tag has a certain amount of arrogance - it needs to have! And that team proved it by beating all the SH giants home and away and then winning the World Cup.
This England team has no arrogance that I can see - Chris Robshaw is a very down to earth captain and Lancaster is down to earth it is hard to even imagine him saying anything that could even be mistaken for arrogance!
Yes there may have been some reference to beating NZ but it was our last game and shows respect to them - beating the best team in the world is a big deal!
Also to say that the NH competition for England isn't great shows a huge lack of rugby understanding - the 6 Nations is the oldest, best supported and, in my opinion, still the best international tournament in the world - all the teams lift their games against each other with the huge weight of tradition and history behind them - roll on Saturday (just need to find a bar in Melbourne showing the game now - I love the Calcutta Cup)!
Posted 21:54 29th January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Isograford: Manu is thanking God. It's not a looooooser gesture or he'd do it at the start with Scotland.
Posted 19:58 29th January 2013
pentwynfarm says...
@isograford. Wow every comment I read of yours is banging on about that All Black loss. You really should let it go man. Get yourself some counselling.
As to the English arrogance, does anyone have links to these articles where they talk themselves up because I haven't see them. I do remember the Irish saying last year how they like to stuff the English on St Patricks day, remember? But no-one talks about them being arrogant.
Posted 19:22 29th January 2013
nabberuk says...
@Isograford
Boooooooring!! I see you actually have no idea what the L sign is that Tuilagi does, perhaps a bit of research before spouting off your anti-english rubbish.
Or was it another rant because New Zealand lost against England, It really does surprise me that it's mainly Kiwi's who keep bringing it up with attempts to belittle it. Then they have the cheek to say the English won't stop talking about it!
Posted 18:26 29th January 2013
astrospange says...
I expect JT has a lot of undermining comments in his anti-English arsenal. I think his comments are bordering on racism and almost xenophobia. My mother told me if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all. It's interesting to note that the English didn't say anything negative about the AB's before they beat them and don't really say anything negative about any other countries. Just petty put-downs to rile the boys.
Posted 18:12 29th January 2013