PREVIEW-Rugby-England's Borthwick the latest to face the Farrell paradox

Owen Farrell is not England's best flyhalf, best centre or best captain and his tackling now looks like a ban in waiting, yet for over a decade he has been undroppable under three coaching regimes and looks set to remain that way at the World Cup. Stuart Lancaster, Eddie Jones and now Steve Borthwick, along with British & Irish Lions and various Saracens coaches along the way, have had absolute and unquestioning faith in the 31-year-old warrior with the winning mindset.

Owen Farrell is not England's best flyhalf, best centre or best captain and his tackling now looks like a ban in waiting, yet for over a decade he has been undroppable under three coaching regimes and looks set to remain that way at the World Cup.

Stuart Lancaster, Eddie Jones and now Steve Borthwick, along with British & Irish Lions and various Saracens coaches along the way, have had absolute and unquestioning faith in the 31-year-old warrior with the winning mindset. Many team mates have spoken about being almost awed by his professionalism, dedication and the standards he sets and expects of those around him, which is another reason coaches want him in their squads.

A year ago, on the eve of Farrell's 100th cap, Saracens and England hooker Jamie George said: "Owen has changed the way that English rugby has been played. He changed the mindset of the team, giving us the belief to play against teams like the All Blacks. The way that he fights and shows resilience, it's like nothing I've ever seen. "There has not been a day I've trained with him throughout the last 15 years where I thought, 'He's having an off day today'. Every day he's relentless, wants to get better and has a drive that is not just internal because he's desperate to make every team that he plays for better."

That is the sort of presence that means even when another flyhalf has made an unanswerable case for inclusion, such as George Ford or Marcus Smith, coaches have felt they have to find a way to get Farrell into the team, and shifted him to inside centre. Yet he has never been a natural in the 12 shirt, possessing neither the speed or evasiveness of the best centres, and, in the case of Smith, his very presence seemed to swamp the flyhalf's ambition.

GREAT LEADER Farrell is unquestionably a great leader but not necessarily a great captain, as his furious combativeness does not always lead to clear thinking.

Very few World Cups have been won with a captain outside the pack and England seemed to have better relationships with referees with flanker Courtney Lawes in the role. Farrell had a brilliant last season at flyhalf with Saracens, bringing more creativity to his game, yet Ford still gives the impression he can control things better and is his equal for pressure goalkicking.

Smith also has an x-factor that even the ultra-conservative Borthwick might turn to in desperation. Farrell will miss the first two, and most important, World Cup pool games against Argentina and Japan as he serves a four-game ban for a no-arms shoulder to head tackle that has become something of his trademark but is now being clamped down on.

Without him, Ford is the likely starting 10, with Smith on the bench, leaving Borthwick free to pick two specialist centres. England played that way against Ireland and Fiji and were terrible in both games but they have been no better most of this dire year when Farrell started.

Should a "Farrell-less" team suddenly find form in the first two games in France then Borthwick really will have to think long and hard about whether his main man automatically returns. But then he might glance at the iconic photo of a supremely confident Farrell smirking as England encroached on the New Zealand Haka before the 2019 semi-final.

What followed was arguably their greatest-ever performance, with Farrell having one of the games of his life - playing at 12.