Owen Farrell hopes for less TMO stoppages in Rugby World Cup
Monday 21 September 2015 12:33, UK
Owen Farrell is concerned that lengthy stoppages for TMO referrals could undermine England’s quest to win the Rugby World Cup.
No fewer than six TMO referrals lasting a total of 10 minutes occurred during England's 35-11 tournament-opening win over Fiji last Friday.
Stuart Lancaster's side are convinced they are one of the fittest teams in the tournament after undergoing a gruelling 10-week pre-World Cup training camp, and Farrell thinks England will benefit from more uninterrupted game time.
"There was a lot of ball out-of-play time so we didn't really get going as a team which I thought was tough, but that is due to the circumstances," he said.
"I think the ball out-of-play time maybe took it out of us at times. Once we got going again I thought it was good again.
"We want to keep the ball in play for as long as we can, we want to play rugby, we want to make the decisions and we want to stay infield as much as we can. I'm sure there are other teams that want to do that as well.
"It's the start of a massive tournament and there were a few stoppages that slowed the game down.
"They are trying to get as many decisions right as possible and that takes a bit more time. As the tournament goes on there will probably be a bit more feel for how the game is going and it will probably speed up a bit."
England face Wales on Saturday and despite losing three of their nine put-ins at the scrum against Fiji, Farrell insists the team will improve on set-pieces as the tournament progresses.
"These are the games that you love playing in," he said. "We'll build it up nicely this week and make sure that we are ready for it.
"I think the scrum still will be a strength in this tournament. I don't know what went on against Fiji and why things happened during that game, but I know everyone here will work as hard as they possibly can do to make sure it is in the best place possible for us to go forward."
