Owen Farrell has worst ever day with boot as Saracens make hard work of winning

25 November 2023 , 19:23

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Farrell missed five conversions, a penalty and a dropped goal (Image: Getty Images)

Owen Farrell endured his worst day as a goal kicker as Saracens misfired their way to victory over Bristol.

Never before had the England captain missed six kicks in a single game, at any level, for any team, in any competition.

But a chilly afternoon in north London changed all that as he fluffed five of seven conversion attempts, missed a straightforward penalty and had a dropped goal charged down.

“It was one of those days wasn’t it,” said Saracens boss Mark McCall. “We won’t see that again I don’t think.”

The English champions twice came from behind to record their fifth straight Premiership win and hand Bears a fifth successive defeat.

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They still managed seven tries and victory lifted them to second in the table behind leaders Sale.

Farrell on his way to scoring Saracens' first try at StoneX (PA)

But they did it the hard way after opening up with two tries in the first 12 minutes - the first, ironically, from skipper Farrell.

“It was a pretty ordinary first half and a better second half,” McCall said. “I thought we were flat in a number of things and I don’t know why right now.

“It didn’t feel like we were on top of things and as energetic as we were the week before. Sometimes that can happen. I just give the players a lot of credit for doing something about it in the second half.”

Billy Vunipola breaks off the back of the scrum to score Saracens' third try (Getty Images)

There were no signs of the problems to come when Farrell powered over on the left to open the scoring after a Maro Itoje line-out take brought no return from the maul.

But his inability to land conversions meant Saracens never pulled clear and Bristol roared back to lead at half-time with tries by Joe Batley, Ellis Genge and Gabriel Oghre.

In the nick of time Farrell caught a break when chipping to the corner for Alex Lewington to score the second of his two tries - then adding the extras to a relieved cheer from the crowd.

Alex Lewington scores his second try from Farrell's pinpoint diagonal (Getty Images)

“He is one of the best kickers in the world, he won’t need me to tell him what to fix,” team mate Elliot Daly said of his pal’s off-day. “I am sure it won’t keep him up at night.”

Saracens, like Farrell, will expect to be better next time. They pulled through because Jamie George scored twice from close range, either side of Tom Willis dotting down. But it was a lot closer than it should have been.

SARACENS - Tries: Farrell, Lewington 2, B Vunipola, George 2, Willis. Cons: Farrell 2.

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BRISTOL - Tries: Batley, Genge, Oghre, Marmion. Cons: Sheedy 3. Pens: Sheedy 2.

Alex Spink