BLOEMFONTEIN – England captain Owen Farrell says they are not going to panic and believe they can turn things around when they face the Springboks in the second Test match in Bloemfontein on Saturday. After losing an enthralling opening Test at Ellis Park 42-39, England will be looking to level the series when the teams meet on Saturday.
“The last thing we should do now is panic or worry, it is about us practising how we get it right," said Farrell. “We had a good training session on Wednesday which we felt there was more control in what we were doing and we’ve got to carry on building it towards this weekend."
Farrell will lead the side for the second time on tour having impressed coach Eddie Jones with the way he has taken on the captaincy from Dylan Hartley. Asked if he is enjoying the role so far, Farrell said: “Yeah I’m loving it.
"I don’t think it’s probably as challenging as what people make out to be from the outside but I’ve got a lot of players doing a lot of work here in camp. The main thing for me as a captain or one of those senior leaders in the team is to make sure we’re all pulling in the right direction and we’re all doing that.”
Beach recovery session for the boys in Durban today 🌞🌊 #WearTheRose🌹 pic.twitter.com/UGr6CrKFfQ
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) June 14, 2018
With just a three-point gap between the teams in the last meeting, the Saracens back says the whole squad believes they can get a victory. “I don’t think anybody doesn’t believe that we’re able to win the Test match at the weekend. What we’ve got to do is get it right between now and then.
“We’ve got to make it that we build up the right way to the game," said the 26-year-old. We’ve had a productive week so far but just because you’ve had a productive week you can't expect it to carry on, we’ve got to build it.
“I thought we did get the emotion right last week, just when the pressure came on and they started getting momentum we probably didn’t cope with it as well as we should’ve done, so we’ve spoken a lot."
Joe Launchbury has recovered from injury to start in the second row, with the only other change in the pack seeing Brad Shields making his first start.