08 December 2023 , 21:05
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Sam Warburton has lifted the lid on the often overbearing pressures that come with leading your country and saluted Owen Farrell’s “bravery” in stepping back as England captain.
Farrell returns to rugby for the first time since announcing he will take a break from the international arena to prioritise his mental wellbeing.
In South Africa today he skippers his club Saracens against the Pretoria-based Bulls in the Investec Champions Cup. But there will be no Six Nations for England's record points scorer.
“Captaining your country is a huge privilege but the pressure it puts you under is hard to put into words,” said Warburton, who led Wales and the British and Irish Lions during his distinguished career.
“It can get you down. It really does get you down. There's a whole different weight of expectation which you carry around. And it’s relentless.
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“People only see the one per cent where you lead out your country in front of nine to 10 million people on network television.
Former Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton (@rugbyontnt)“Yes it’s a huge honour but, blimey, sometimes you walk around park pitches, see junior clubs playing, think ‘they're enjoying their rugby’ and actually feel jealous of it.
“I think Owen’s probably thinking, ‘I just want to enjoy my rugby again’. It takes a very strong man, a brave man, to make that call. I look at it with a little bit of envy actually.”
When Warburton, now a TNT Sports pundit, stepped away from the Wales scene he also retired from the sport. With hindsight he would have given Cardiff a couple more years.
Farrell announced last week he will sit out England's Six Nations campaign to prioritise his mental wellbeing ((Photo by Julian Finney-World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images))His experience gives him another perspective, one he wishes Farrell was able to share about life after playing.
“When Owen or any of these boys finish they'll be completely overwhelmed with how many people they have touched and how many people admire them,” he said. “They’ve got no idea at the minute.
“They won’t believe how much support they’ll get because when you're still playing the nice people don't think to tell you you're playing well, they just presume you know it. It’s only the negative people who fancy talking.”
The better you are as a player, Warburton contends, the bigger the target on your back.
“It’s just the way it is,” he added. “The better you are at anything the more people will come after you.”
If that is a depressing commentary on modern life, the back row great offers a solution to up and coming players which requires little more than putting down their phone.
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But he also endured testing times, like when sent off in the 2011 World Cup semi-final“Everyone loves praise,” he said. “It’s lovely being told nice things, of course it is. But for every 10 nice comments there’s a bad one, and it's human nature to remember the bad ones.
“So you need to be disciplined because what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you.
“When you're 85 you ain’t going to look back and be happy you hit 150,000 followers. It’s the 50 caps you get for your country you'll be proud about."
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