Owen Farrell dedicates win to terminally ill lad in victory over Wales

By Alex SpinkWin against Wales was redemption for record loss one year before

REUTERS

Victory: England's Owen Farrell kicks a penalty against Wales

England 29 Wales 18

Owen Farrell kicked England into a Six Nations title showdown – then dedicated victory over Wales to a terminally-ill boy.

Farrell  who landed 19 points as England won their first Triple Crown in 11 years, celebrated by performing the “Joining Jack” salute – hooking his two index fingers together.

“Jack is a lad of a friend that dad played with at Wigan,” said Farrell, referring to ex-Warriors’ forward Andy Johnson.

“He has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and I’m trying to raise awareness for the charity.”

Farrell’s kind gesture came on a special day for England, who moved level on points with Ireland and France.

Stuart Lancaster and his men will be champions if they beat Italy on Saturday and Ireland lose in France, whose points difference is 29 worse than theirs. But an Irish win will give them the title as they hold a +49 points differential advantage over England.

Yesterday was about redemption for England after the record loss to Wales a year ago.

“It’s a massive scalp,” said Chris Robshaw. “There was a lot of emotion beforehand as certain things had been said.”

Wales’ Leigh Halfpenny dislocated his right shoulder.