Owen Farrell: England and Saracens star ‘getting closer’ to return

Colin Newboult

England's Owen Farrell (centre) shortly before going off injured during the Autumn International match at Twickenham Stadium, London. Picture date: Saturday November 13, 2021.

England and Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell could be back playing by the end of March, according to his club director of rugby Mark McCall.

The playmaker was ruled out for the entirety of the Six Nations after undergoing surgery on an injured ankle.

Farrell has not featured since the Autumn Nations Series in November but McCall insists that the 30-year-old is on track to be back on the field before the end of the month.

Going positively

“His recovery is going positively, and we’re certainly hoping he’ll be back playing towards the end of March – exactly when that will be I’m not sure,” he told reporters. “It’s weeks rather than months.

“He’s not doing any training with the team, he’s still with our performance team, but he’s actively involved in meetings, preparation and that kind of thing.

“He is getting closer to being able to play again so there are only hopefully three, four, five weeks before he plays again.

“He is excited about getting his boots back on, getting out there and helping the team again. He always has got a huge influence anyway, just how smart he is about the game and how good he is at helping a lot of the individuals in the team.”

Saracens are currently in a good position in the Premiership, residing in second place behind Leicester Tigers with eight matches remaining.

Their form has been mixed over the past few weeks, however, but McCall believes that Farrell’s return would provide a huge boost.

“To have a world-class player like Owen to come back in for probably the last five, six games of the season is going to be huge for us,” he added.

“The Six Nations will have finished by then so we will get a few other players back. We are hoping to get Aled Davies back pretty soon, Duncan Taylor back pretty soon, so hopefully we have got some difficult selections to make.”

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