Saracens vs Connacht - Sat 1pm

[Puja]

Saracens: Goode; Cinti, Tompkins, Hartley, Maitland; Farrell, Davies; M Vunipola, George, Clarey, Itoje, McFarland, Gonzalez, Christie, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Dan, West, Mulipola, Tizard, Knight, Van Zyl, Parton, Lewington.

Connacht: Porch; Ralston, Farrell, Aki, Bolton; Carty, Blade; Duggan, Heffernan, Aungier, Murray, Thornbury, Prendergast, Oliver, Boyle.

Replacements: Tierney-Martin, Buckley, Bealham, Joyce, Butler, McDonald, Hanrahan, Kilgallen.

[Banquo]

good chance for Hartley.

[FKAS]

Yeah Aki will certainly provide a stern challenge.

[Mellsblue]

He’s one hull of player.

[Which Tyler]

He's going to score a boat-load now

[Mr Mwenda]

Unless he gets pooped.

[fivepointer]

He and his team in choppy waters at h/t

[Puja]

Farrell costing his team three points with an unnecessary scuffle after getting mildly provoked by a push. Not ideal.

Puja

[p/d]

Has Farrell‘a kicking gone to shit?

[Stom]

Has Farrell‘a kicking gone to shit?

gone?

[TheNomad]

How did Hartley do? I saw one of the tries but not the be other

[p/d]

Has Farrell‘a kicking gone to shit?

gone?

I knew I had lined myself up for that!

[Captainhaircut]

People wonder why Farrell gets a tough ride and then you watch games like this. The media love in for dreadful to average performances just boils my piss.

- goalkicked liked a drain.
- gave away 3 points by being a petulant baby.
- spoke to the ref like a child as usual.
- threw an intercept for a try.
- threw the usual comical pass off his left hand because he can’t actually do it.

And all we heard was a massive overreaction to what was a nice pass for the Maitland try and some comical analysis of the Hartley try which totally ignored a brilliant kick from Tompkins and focused on how Farrell pointed at someone.

At the end the commentator said Farrell was confused that his usual reliable kicking had disappeared. Reality was that it was exactly the same as always- kicked the easy ones, missed anything slightly hard.

Whoever runs Farrell’s PR is a real genius for this Six Nations break. No one will ever say a bad word again (even though they barely did).

[Scrumhead]

I totally agree. However, given recent developments, I can only see the media making a deliberate effort to ‘be kind’.

Factual criticism will be glossed over and any positives will be fluffed up to the maximum.

[Banquo]

- goalkicked liked a drain.
- gave away 3 points by being a petulant baby.
- spoke to the ref like a child as usual.
- threw an intercept for a try.
- threw the usual comical pass off his left hand because he can’t actually do it.

...and rinse and repeat pretty much every match with the addition of poor tackling. Hiding in plain sight, emperor's new clothes etc etc

[Mikey Brown]

Yes it’s the BT sport punditry team that should be getting abused online instead.

[fivepointer]

People wonder why Farrell gets a tough ride and then you watch games like this. The media love in for dreadful to average performances just boils my piss.

- goalkicked liked a drain.
- gave away 3 points by being a petulant baby.
- spoke to the ref like a child as usual.
- threw an intercept for a try.
- threw the usual comical pass off his left hand because he can’t actually do it.

And all we heard was a massive overreaction to what was a nice pass for the Maitland try and some comical analysis of the Hartley try which totally ignored a brilliant kick from Tompkins and focused on how Farrell pointed at someone.

At the end the commentator said Farrell was confused that his usual reliable kicking had disappeared. Reality was that it was exactly the same as always- kicked the easy ones, missed anything slightly hard.

Whoever runs Farrell’s PR is a real genius for this Six Nations break. No one will ever say a bad word again (even though they barely did).

Well said. The commentators basically wet themselves over the pass for the Maitland try. It was a nice one tbf, but then the replacement SH put in a far better one a bit later which went by with barely a murmer.
And Farrell's goalkicking is now bang average - something so obvious that those super sharp TV pundits could maybe pick up on?