George Ford and Owen Farrell clash takes centre stage in Premiership final

independent.co.uk:

George Ford says it is not about individual match-ups ahead of an intriguing Twickenham battle with friend and England colleague Owen Farrell.Ford will pull the tactical strings for Sale on their first appearance in a Gallagher Premiership final since 2006.His rival fly-half Farrell, meanwhile, is key to Saracens’ hopes of securing a sixth Premiership title on Saturday following the crushing disappointment that accompanied their defeat against Leicester at Twickenham last season.“We understand Owen has an unbelievable influence on the Saracens team, but he is one of only 15 men on the field at that particular time,” Sale playmaker Ford said.“There are threats everywhere, and we are like that ourselves.

I am one of only 15 at a time for Sale.“I never see it as just a match-up between me and him. There is so much more that goes into a game of rugby.“Obviously, both of us will want to do our job as well as we can, of course we do, for our team, and that is making as many good decisions and executing as well as we can.“He is a great friend, and we understand we are just a cog in a machine of two teams, I suppose, that hopefully have an influence on the game one way or another.“That consistency that he (Farrell) plays at very rarely dips.

You see the influence he has on the teams he plays in and the way he drives it.“He is obviously driving their variety in terms of the way they attack when they have the ball, and he is probably as ferocious as ever in defence.“A lot of the stuff in rugby comes down to not just one player against another, it comes down to many things.“Who has got momentum, who’s got speed of ball, who has got field position, who’s building pressure the most?