Monday 21 May 2018 09:54, UK
Jamie George believes club and international team-mate Owen Farrell is becoming a better player, as he is handed greater responsibility.
Farrell produced a noteworthy performance for Saracens as Mark McCall's side defeated Wasps 57-33 in an eventful Aviva Premiership semi-final at Allianz Park on Saturday - a match in which the England player amassed a play-off record 27-point haul.
England head coach Eddie Jones has picked Farrell as captain for next month's tour to South Africa, in the enforced absence of regular skipper Dylan Hartley and George says his colleague has nurtured his leadership style.
"He has definitely worked on that side of his game. Coming into the team as a 20-year-old, bossing people around, he had a certain way about him, but he is much more understanding of the people he is talking to," George said.
"He is getting the best out of them as a result, which is what you want from a leader.
"But the look is still there. You sometimes get a look but what Owen is big on is that if you haven't worked hard enough to get back on the ball...
"He has got such a clever rugby brain on him that he knows if the mistake is from skill or from effort. A skill error or a knock-on and it is the effort error that he gives you the look for.
"The guy's incredible. For me, he just keeps getting better and better. From what we've seen here, the more leadership and responsibility he is given, the better he gets, the more he rises to it. He certainly leads from the front."
Both George and Farrell will be determined to gain a measure of revenge for their play-off defeat to Exeter last season when they meet the Chiefs in the Twickenham showpiece this Saturday - a repeat of the 2016 final, which Saracens won.
Saracens' hooker George knows they will need to replicate the opening 20 minutes of this weekend's win against Wasps - described by McCall as the best of his reign as director of rugby - against the defending champions.
"The challenge is to repeat it next week," George added. "You've got to do it again. But also, it wasn't exactly the perfect performance because we conceded 40 points so there's a lot to fix up.
"Imagine if that was 50-odd-nil, we thought we were world-beaters and you come up against whoever in the final..."
Watch England's three-match Test series in South Africa live on Sky Sports in June.
