Dan Carter is "world class" says Owen Farrell

Carter will win his 100th cap at Twickenham on Saturday. His standing as one of the all-time greats is recognised by his opposite number – but with profound respect rather than the adulation Carter sometimes receives.

“There’s not much that I don’t admire about Dan Carter’s game,” said Farrell. “He’s not bad at anything. He’s world class. But the impressive thing is that has been his status for such a long time. There has never been any drop-off in his performance.

“I still watch and try to learn from him. I see most of the games that are on the television and take as much from them as I can. I certainly appreciate what he does, but it’s hard to watch the game in that way and also analyse what he does. When you are constantly rewinding things on the computer, you are looking for why things happened, not sitting back and admiring.”

Farrell as the new Carter, albeit clad in white not black, may be pushing it. But the potential to move in that direction – or at any rate towards becoming a new Jonny Wilkinson – plainly exists in a youngster of 22 with 178 Test points and 18 caps to his name.

So Farrell is only 1,257 points shy of Carter’s international record, but by the time he has reached 31 he could at least be closing. He might even narrow the gap at the weekend, though that would require an England display to emulate last December’s.

“It’s not me against him,” said Farrell. “It’s not like the 10s carry the ball into each other, not a personal battle in that way. He is trying to control his team and I am trying to control mine, looking to put pressure on him as on any other fly-half.

“You dream about these chances to play against the best team in the world – and some of the best players. He is obviously one of them. But there’s no point sitting back and being in awe. You have to go out and perform yourself.”

Farrell judges England to be markedly improved even over the team whose 38-21 trouncing of the 2012 All Blacks caused such a stir and gave his team a momentum that they carried all the way to failure in the Grand-Slam showdown in Wales four months later.

Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2495654/Come-boys-Prince-William-roars-Wales-match-South-Africa-leaves-disappointed-15-24.html

Incoming search terms:

• Prince William and Springbok Toy

Dan Carter is "world class" says Owen Farrell