Owen Farrell earns Paul Grayson vote in line-up of the No.10s

Paul Grayson cannot recall such intense competition for the England No.10 shirt but the second highest points scorer in Red Rose history believes Owen Farrell‘s big-game mentality gives him the edge.
Despite starting four matches in the Six Nations and touring Australia with the Lions, Farrell finds himself under pressure.
Leicester fly-half Toby Flood is the most experienced option with 57 caps while the romantics’ preference is for the flair of Freddie Burns, who filled in admirably during the tour to Argentina, or for Bath‘s precocious George Ford.
Farrell, by comparison, is pegged as the conservative option by many, but former Northampton fly-half Grayson told The Rugby Paper that is an unfair assessment of the 22-year-old.
He said: “Owen Farrell will play the game asked of him by his coaches. That is a very admirable quality. People forget how young he is and how much he has achieved already.
“It’s been recognisable to anyone watching his game this season that he’s trying to expand his game in the way Saracens have changed theirs.
“He’s getting more opportunities to run the ball. He’s a big strong lad who is able to get his arms free, which is a great asset in a fly-half.
“It means that he can make a couple of darts, break the first tackle with his power and get an offload away, which is meat and drink to someone like Chris Ashton.”
More importantly, in Grayson’s opinion, Farrell has that intangible big-game mentality. While some of his rivals possess a similar kicking percentage, there is only one player who Grayson would trust to take the kicking tee when the pressure is on.
He added: “Even when the other parts of your game are not going well, you have to be depended upon to step up and deliver.
“Very few players have that mentality at the very height of the game, but he has already shown that.
“He has played in a lot of big games at a young age and people may criticise his attitude or his belligerence but having that fire and being able to harness it is a very powerful tool.”
During his playing days, Grayson had the unenviable task of battling Jonny Wilkinson, “which was terrible for anyone’s international record”, but still managed to rack up 400 points in 32 appearances.
The competition, however, drove both players forward and Grayson believes that England are as well-stocked in that department as any other country.
“It is exciting,” he added. “But there’s no reason why England should not be producing fly-halves of the highest calibre.
“Look at New Zealand, they will happily tell you they have  got more fly-halves than anyone else but Stephen Donald was their fly-half for the last World Cup final and I would say we have got three or four better 10s than him.
“Toby Flood is playing as well as he has. I think he’s an outstanding player. The last World Cup experience was not a good experience for a lot of people but I’d like to think he’s insulated from that.
“Then you have got Freddie Burns and George Ford, but there are questions about their defensive capabilities.
“Better young players coming in drives improvement in the older players and two years out from the World Cup England are in a very healthy position.”
The list of contenders does not finish there with Stephen Myler, who was coached by Grayson at Saints, enjoying a promising start to the season.
“Stephen Myler is now in a position where he is not exactly unchallenged for his position, but he will, when fit, play the vast majority of games for Northampton,” Grayson said.
“It’s the first time in five years he’s had a clear run, which is really important. He is playing behind a powerful pack with a huge amount of resources behind the scrum.
“This is the season he has to stand up and grab that Northampton team by the scruff of the neck.
“I know Stuart Lancaster is a fan because he’s very similar to Owen Farrell in that he’ll do what he’s told.
“The thing he needs to accomplish is consistency of performance so that his worst games are not too far away from his best game. He has got the opportunity to do that this season for the first time.”
DANIEL SCHOFIELD