Rugby Union: Farrell Must Wait to Help England Off Their Knees

Forgive me for making an assumption with regard to a matter about which I have anything but personal experience, but it cannot be easy being a saviour. And it has just become harder for Andy Farrell, the convert from league to union, from Wigan to Saracens, who was supposed to ease his way into his new code in a friendly fixture against Bedford.

Somebody trod on his toe in a maul in a trial match last week, which means that he might be getting his first touch in 15-a-side not in yesterday's gentle pre-season romp but perilously close to the bustle and clutter of the Premiership in Saturday's practice game against Harlequins in Harpenden. Club rugby in England, of all the rugbys in the world, is not the kindest on the eye, but it is brutally robust and utterly unforgiving.

Having played for Wigan since he was barely pubescent, Farrell will be no stranger to all the attention - it is just that at some stage he will need to find out what happens in a sport that he has never played, give or take a mess-around or two against Bath a decade ago. He has been signed up to union for six months, but poorly knees and this minor bump have kept his involvement confined to the purely theoretical.

Of course, theory is very fashionable in England. Having won the World Cup in the most pragmatic way imaginable, the great machine that had never seemed to need any servicing, bar the application of the odd cool flannel to Jonny Wilkinson's sometimes fevered brow, seized up.

Other countries, most noticeably New Zealand, took a long look at the England way in 2003 and decided not to ape it but junk it. The flavour of the game elsewhere over the past two seasons has been spicy and extravagant. England, with the retirement and withdrawal of monster forwards such as Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio, have looked ponderous and plain old-fashioned.

For a time this was understandable. You don't get many Dallaglios and Johnsons to the ton. When their day was done, there was bound to be a gap while the next generation bulked up and burst through.

But the crisis is deeper. The talent coming through is large of body but limited in technique. Everyone is looking for a greater range of skills, but under pressure - and this includes the Lions - players are retreating into the all too familiar style of bash and bosh.

The problem is not confined to England. According to figures released by Coris Thomas, the estimable number cruncher at the International Rugby Board, it is clear that most progressive nations are trying to broaden their options. Forwards are expected to stand in the three-quarters and behave like poets. And yet, according to Thomas, those forwards make a pass on only 15 per cent of the occasions they receive the ball. Bosh and ruck still rule.

That is why Farrell is so important. In theory. First, he still doesn't know what the hell a ruck is, except that it's probably best avoided. Secondly, every rugby instinct in his large frame tells him to create space for others. Bosh is not an option.

He can play centre, or at least that's the position earmarked for him in the England team, and is also solid enough to toy with the idea of giving it a go in the back row. Given that Richard Hill looks as if he will be out for the second season on the trot - not that he can even do that on his knee - that is good news for Saracens.

Farrell is the perfect multi-skilled, poly-positional player to help redefine the whole strategy of rugby in England. Which is a hell of a responsibility. Especially because he moves on dodgy knees and has turned 30.

It will be interesting to see how much support there is for the quest for greater expansiveness. Bristol coach Richard Hill has said his newly promoted team will remain faithful to the risk-taking that worked in National Division One. The Premiership, though, is a different beast.

For two years, England head coach Andy Robinson has been trying to encourage players who are all too well versed in the ways of the Premiership to try something more daring. But he has enough problems on his plate trying to rebuild a pack from scratch, let alone tinker with the tricky bits.

And most of his time seems to be taken up by the impasse of player release. Long-form agreements about having the elite squad for x number of days are all very well until they are scuppered by short-term interests, and it seems the clubs are in no mood to give the England head coach much in the way of time to encourage his players to hone new skills.

Farrell is a new face at least, unfettered by all the baggage that goes with tradition and obstinacy in the union game. He will be prepared to try new things because he does not know how sacred the old ways are meant to be.

He could truly become the symbol of change for the future. For the moment, however, he is more a symbol of the present. He wants to play, but he's knackered. The World Cup is racing nearer; the world champions are hobbling towards it. 2007 is calling; 2005 could be a very tricky year for England.