Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton have a lot in common. They both captain their country, are both Grand Slam winners and are both closing in on the Guinness Six Nations’ total points record.
Two penalties in England’s Round 5 defeat to Ireland saw Farrell move to 500 Guinness Six Nations points, a remarkable number when you consider he is still only 29.
In this Championship, he surpassed Wales great Stephen Jones and now sits third on the all-time list, behind only Ronan O’Gara and Jonny Wilkinson.
O’Gara holds the record with 557 points and Wilkinson is a narrow second on 546. But both could be overtaken by Farrell next year, if the England man continues to score at his current rate.
Farrell notched up 50 points in the 2021 Championship, and so a marginally better 2022 would see him zoom past O’Gara.
However, there is no guarantee he will be top of the charts.
Sexton has been scoring regular points since his Championship bow all the way back in 2010 and sits just four points behind the Englishman on 496.
Sexton might be six years older than Farrell but the Leinster playmaker played second fiddle to O’Gara in the early part of his Test career.
However, aged 35, he has enjoyed one of his most prolific Championships to date, scoring a whopping 65 points this year, including 22 points against England in Round 5.
The two are comfortably clear of the next active player on the list in Wales’ Leigh Halfpenny, who has 417.
Dan Biggar was Wales’ top scorer in this Championship with 36, while Finn Russell (35) and Matthieu Jalibert (34) round out the top five of 2021’s points scorers.
