England captain Owen Farrell focused on team's performance ahead of 100th cap against New Zealand

Owen Farrell is excited by the performance England will put out against New Zealand and says he's appreciative of the magnitude of a 100th international Test cap.

Farrell made his debut for England against Scotland in the opening round of the 2012 Six Nations and on Saturday afternoon is expected join Jason Leonard and Ben Youngs as England's male Test centurions.

England go into the contest with New Zealand off the back of a purposeful 52-13 victory over Japan, which sought to put behind them a difficult loss to Argentina in their opening fixture of the Autumn Nations Series.

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During Test week at England's training base at Pennyhill Park, Farrell made it clear that he is locked into what the team are doing and not thinking too much wider about the personal milestone that's on the horizon.

"I'm focused on what the team's going to do and how we get the best performance out of ourselves," Farrell said.

"I don't want to downplay it; I don't want to look like I'm taking it (100 caps) for granted because I'm not. I do appreciate it and I am grateful, but the most exciting bit is the game this week and that's what we're looking forward to."

Farrell's team-mates have been effusive in their praise of him with fellow England international and Saracens player Jamie George crediting him for transforming the mindset of English rugby.

"Owen has changed the way that English rugby has been played, we can genuinely say that. He's someone who has led the way throughout his 99 caps for England," George said.

"He changed the mindset of the team, giving us the belief to play against teams like the All Blacks. And that's when he has been captain and when he hasn't.

I just try to do my best. I’m passionate about what I do, I love it. I love coming to training every day.

"The way that he fights and shows resilience, it's like nothing I've ever seen. And he has continued to develop his game, he's continued to not settle. It could have been very easy for him once he got to 50 caps to think, 'I can cruise this for the rest of the time'.

"There has not been a day I've trained with him throughout the last close to 15 years, which is worrying, where I thought, 'He's having an off day today'.

"Every day he's relentless, wants to get better and has a drive that is not just internal because he's desperate to make every team that he plays for better.

"Sometimes he rubs people the wrong way because he's passionate and he cares and he drives standards in a way that is unlike I've ever seen before.

"But it's in a great way because people work out when they spend a bit more time with him that he cares about the team.

"He's a lot more empathetic than people think. Having kids has given him perspective on that and seeing him grow as a dad and as a friend has been been absolutely amazing."

Farrell: It wasn't a smirk

England's last meeting with New Zealand was the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final in Japan. It was a match England won 19-7 and one that head coach Eddie Jones believes will be useful this week.

Jones said: "The guys who played in that game, guys like Owen, Mako, Billy, Jamie George and Maro are going to be important in reinforcing to the players that it's not mission impossible.

"If we go after them, then they're there for the taking and we're going to go after them."

Pre-match, England's formation while New Zealand performed the haka set the tone and famously, there was a picture of Farrell's face looking straight back at the challenge being laid down.

"Everyone thought I was smirking; I wasn't smirking, I was just thinking, 'how good is this!?' There's nowhere else I'd rather be than in a World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in front of the haka. I was excited about what was to come after," Farrell said.

"We're fully aware that New Zealand are a team that don't go away throughout the course of the 80 minutes and they're a team that are in the game until the very last play.

"They've done a lot of damage right at the end of games, when you think you're in it. They're also a team that can blow you away from the start, they kind of did both last weekend (against Scotland).

"We've got to be ready for both this weekend and deal with it all," Farrell concluded.