England captain Owen Farrell calls coach with 'pick me plea' from maternity ward
- From the section Rugby Union
Nobody can question England captain Owen Farrell's commitment to his club Saracens.
Picture the scene: it's 2.30pm. His wife Georgie has been in labour since the night before. They think the birth of their first child is a mere half-hour away.
What does the fly-half do?
According to Sarries head coach Mark McCall, he called to say he might still be able to make their Champions Cup quarter-final against Glasgow - which kicked off just 45 minutes later.
"He phoned me at 2.30 and said 'in the next half hour'...," said McCall. "I said 'Owen, the game starts at 3.15! I don't actually know if he's had the baby yet.
"We had a rough cut-off point. His wife went into labour last night. At 8.30am he was pretty confident it would all happen, but it didn't.
"But the important thing was that he was where he should have been - with his wife."
The 27-year-old need not have worried on his club's behalf as Saracens back Alex Goode proved a worthy replacement, helping them defeat Glasgow 56-27 and reach their seventh Champions Cup semi-final.
McCall hopes Farrell - who has not played for Saracens since before the Six Nations - is back in time for that game against Munster on 20 April.
"We have a big game coming up and he does need to play a little bit [before then]," he added.
Given how keen he was to be on the pitch today, Farrell will surely be back in good time.
