Owen Farrell insists there is still room for improvement within the England side after kicking his team to their second trophy of the autumn.
Farrell’s sudden death penalty sealed a 22-19 victory over France in the Autumn Nations Cup final at Twickenham, which saw England complete an autumn double after wrapping up the 2020 Guinness Six Nations crown in October.
England were made to battle hard against a French side missing a whole host of regular first-choice players and needed a last-minute Luke Cowan-Dickie try, followed by Farrell’s conversion, to level the scores in dramatic fashion.
The home captain sent a presentable opportunity wide in the first half of extra-time, having also missed a penalty inside the 80 minutes of normal time, but recovered his composure to slot over the vital winning kick with time running out.
“I backed myself [to kick it],” said the 29-year-old. “Obviously I missed some that I definitely shouldn’t have missed and made that game go on longer than it should have.
“The way that the boys attacked that second half and really went at it to put us in winning positions I thought was outstanding.
“There is stuff to get better at and we’ll look at that first half properly but the way that we attacked in the second half and took it to France was pleasing.
“There were a lot of chances to win that game and it was my fault that we didn’t but the boys kept going after it and putting us in places as well as being resilient in times in defence.”
The match also saw the welcome return of fans to Twickenham, with 2,000 supporters cheering their side home at English rugby’s HQ.
Their impact was not lost on Farrell, who was delighted to be playing in front of a crowd once more.
“It is special this time,” he said. “Nothing at the minute is normal so to speak and the atmosphere that those 2,000 fans created was outstanding.
“It is not just them that the boys feel but loads of support at home as well. Thankfully we got over the line for them as well.”
