American mistakes and Kiwi domination

England captain Owen Farrell could miss up to a year with England following his decision to step away from the Six Nations to prioritise his and his family’s mental wellbeing.

England are scheduled to play Japan and two tests against New Zealand in July and it is understood it is almost certain the 32-year-old will not be involved.

There are also serious doubts over the likelihood of a return for next year’s November series, which includes tests against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

Farrell is thought to have been reassuring friends he is fundamentally OK but has made up his mind to prioritise his family for this next stage of his career.

In taking what Mark Mccall, his director of rugby at Saracens, described as “a courageous and brave decision to open up”, the former England captain is thought to feel that something needs to be done to ensure others don’t go through what he has endured.

“His happiness and wellbeing Mccall said.

“If that, in time, involves returning to the international fold then so be it. He has nothing to prove. All those caps, being captain, wasn’t enough for some people.

“If he wants to go back after a break and it’s something that he enjoys and loves, then good for him. If he doesn’t want to in six, eight months’ time then we’ll support that, too.

“Certainly, is paramount,”

I didn’t try to persuade him to change his decision – and I’m pretty sure that [England coach] Steve Borthwick didn’t, either.

“I can’t tell you why he feels the way he feels. His happiness – and his family’s – is the most important thing going forward. And he’ll have the club’s full support going forward as always.

“We need to make sure that we’re checking in all the time with him. Like Steve [Borthwick] said yesterday, it was courageous and brave of him to open up. I admire Owen for many reasons anyway, but even more for doing this.

“The person that is portrayed and has been portrayed from time to time in the media down the years is not the person that I recognise.

“There’s only so much that someone can take.

“It’s remarkable that he played the way he played during the World Cup, if we take into account how he’s feeling.

“A person who is right on top of his game at the moment, yet he and his family have been made to feel the way they feel. It is shameful.”

Mccall said he felt anger at the way his captain – who has won 112 caps for England, led his country to the last two World Cups and won four test caps for the British and Irish Lions – had been treated.

Coming just a week after referee Wayne Barnes revealed he had received death threats during the World Cup in France and his family had also been targeted, Mccall said it should act as a wake-up call for rugby.

“Rugby probably needs to do something. “There’s no way that a referee should face what Wayne faced and there’s no way that a player – a person – like Owen should have to face what he faced, over a longer period of time.” - The Telegraph

Team New Zealand dominated a difficult opening day when American Magic said they were “embarrassed” by mistakes which led to two disqualifications in the first races of the America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Jeddah.

The Kiwi Cup defenders won the opening two fleet races before slumping to fifth in the third race when Italy’s Luna Rossa crossed the finish line in first, but Team NZ led the standings by four points yesterday.

The struggles of American Magic on the Red Sea were more of a revelation. They beat Team NZ by one point to win the first preliminary regatta in Vilanova i la Geltrú in September when the half-scale AC40 Cup boats made their racing debut in Spain.

With the same design in Saudi Arabia, they already look out of contention with another two days of racing to come, while the Kiwi crew are in a strong position to finish in the top two to qualify for the final Cup race tomorrow.

American Magic helmsman Tom Slingsby had a wry smile after returning to the port, but the Australian sailor had a blunt assessment of their troubles on the water after receiving several penalties.

“We've had a quick debrief. It’s always tough. Today, you want to crawl into a hole and hide and forget about it, but that's not what you've got to do,” Slingsby said.

“You've got to face your issues head on. ‘What were we doing wrong? How do you fix those mistakes?’

“As a team, we're gutted. I've never sailed like

We’ve just got to get better.”

American Magic were first penalised in the opening race for a boundary infringement and were disqualified as they were falling off their foils after straying way off course. They completed the second race but finished last and were disqualified from starting the day’s final race because they couldn’t fix their foiling problems.

Onboard their Te Kākahi boat, Team NZ were comfortable winners in races one and two after pulling clear of the Britannia and Swiss Alinghi crews. The impressive Italians were always in the mix and the French Orient Express team floundered until finishing second to Luna Rossa in race three.

Team NZ skipper Peter Burling was still reflecting on the final race when they fell off their foils to drop out of contention for a third consecutive win. Still, they emerged as the team to beat against their five challenging syndicates.

“It was a very high-stakes day. We made a couple of mistakes in that last race and ended up getting lapped,” Burling said.

“We tried to approach it aggressively, get out in front, and when we did that we sailed away.’’

The Jeddah regatta is the second of three preliminary competitions before the main event in Barcelona next year, with teams returning to race in the larger AC75 boats.

None of the results count until the challenger series next August, which determines what syndicate Team NZ will race in their defence of the Auld Mug next October.

I'm that embarrassed. before.

[Owen] Farrell is thought to have been reassuring friends he is fundamentally OK.