DUBAI // Imagine the conversation when Owen Farrell returns to Saracens training in London next week.
“Sorry, gaffer, I got injured at the Dubai Sevens.”
“But you weren’t supposed to be playing?”
“I wasn’t.”
And he wasn’t, either. The England fly-half only had a watching brief, in support of Joining Jack, a side in the International Vets who raise awareness and funds for Duchenne muscular dystrophy research.
As a vets competition, players have to be 35 or over to be eligible, so Farrell is still 11 years away from getting a playing invite.
But even watching can be a precarious business at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens.
Read more: Catch all of The National's Dubai Sevens preview coverage here
Or, more accurately, babysitting duties can be. Farrell spent more time keeping Jack Johnson, after whom the charity was created, and his little brother James entertained than he did watching the play.
The two brothers were wearing rugby boots, while Farrell had just a lightweight set of flip-flops on. James went in for a tackle. Crunch. Right on the big toe.
He might be suffering jaw ache, too, from all the selfies he was asked to stop for. He did so with an unfailing, ready smile.
Whenever Farrell kicks a goal for England, or Saracens, he makes a point of doing the linked-finger salute, representing the two Js of Joining Jack in the direction of the television cameras.
That action has probably done more to raise the profile of the charity than anything else, even though the likes of Bradley Wiggins and other great names of world sport also do their bit.
And, yet, this weekend is the first time Farrell has been able to support the vets side in Dubai in person, as Saracens, the English champions, have given him some time off.
“They look after us at the club very well, they rotate us and they have given us a week off,” Farrell said.
“Since the charity started, I have been itching to get out here for the four years they have been coming here. It is brilliant to be here.”
In an unusual role reversal, it also meant he got to run the rule over the performances of his father, Andy, the England assistant coach who plays at fly-half for the Joining Jack side.
“He was not bad,” Farrell Jr said of the former dual-code international’s display in a 41-0 win over Cairo Old Crocs on Pitch 8 at The Sevens.
“It was a good start and they got a few points on the board, which might count later on, but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
Joining Jack have an all-star roster of players. Playing against them must be an intimidating prospect. With that in mind, perhaps it was no surprise their first opponents, Krasnoyarsk, did not make it there to face them.
They showed their intent in the second match against the side from Egypt, and are focused on tougher challenges ahead today, according to Nathan Hines, one of their new recruits for this year.
“It is probably the only invitation tournament my wife would let me go and play, because it is for a good cause,” Hines, who won 77 caps for Scotland before retiring five months ago, said.
“There are some good teams here, and you don’t know what will happen with injuries because we are all getting on a bit.
“Hopefully we stay injury free. We just want to get out of the pool stage, then we know there are excellent teams elsewhere so we will have to play really well to stay in it.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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