The Albany Gazette - Farrell 'still finding out' about 'intriguing' France at Racing

Fly-half Farrell had been out since early November with a groin injury but played 50 minutes in last Saturday's Champions Cup win over the Stormers.

The 33-year-old joined the Parisian outfit this season from Saracens after more than a decade with the English club.

"I'm still learning, I'm still finding out," Farrell told reporters on Thursday.

"It's not like I've been here long enough now to go 'Yes, I understand it all'. It's intriguing, I'm enjoying it."

Farrell's absence has coincided with Racing's worst ever run of results in the Top 14, having failed to win in their past five outings.

During the period, director of rugby in former England head coach Stuart Lancaster was given the vote of confidence by Racing bosses.

They languish in ninth place in the table, 10 points off the play-offs after 14 matches of the season.

"We've had a lot of games that have been close that we've come out on the wrong side of, which has been disappointing," Farrell said.

"When you lose a couple, you probably can put yourself under pressure a little bit and become slightly hesitant at times.

"We've been working hard to make sure that we're not that anymore and we're confident in what we're doing.

"If we do that, we'll put ourselves in some good spots," England's record points scorer added.

- 'Calibre' -

Farrell's move across the Channel ended his England career, with Marcus Smith taking over the No 10 jersey under Steve Borthwick.

Smith is in competition with youngster Fin Smith for the shirt when England start their Six Nations campaign on February 1 at Ireland.

"My focus is massively here in every which way," Farrell said.

"When it comes around and you start watching the games on TV, like any big game that you watch, you wish you were playing in it.

"I'm happy with what we're doing here and I'm looking forward to building on it," he added.

Racing's hopes of ending their dour run will be dented by the absence of Farrell's influential half-back partner Nolann Le Garrec.

Le Garrec is one of 23 players staying with France's squad in southern Paris as they prepare for the Six Nations opener with Wales on January 31.

"Nolann's obviously brilliant at seeing space," Farrell said.

"Any team that has a player of Nolan's calibre will miss that sort of player, we've got some great players in this squad and we'll make sure we do everything we can to play well on Saturday," he added.

Elsewhere this weekend, a depleted Toulouse host Montpellier as the record 23-time champions are without 10 players away with Les Bleus including superstar scrum-half Antoine Dupont.

Vannes, in 14th place, welcome Stade Francais as the league's two bottom sides meet in Brittany before leaders Bordeaux-Begles play Lyon in the highlight of the weekend.

Fixtures (times GMT) Saturday

Toulouse v Montpellier (1300), Racing 92 v Castres, Vannes v Stade Francais, Pau v Clermont, Perpignan v Bayonne (1500), Bordeaux-Begles v Lyon (2015),

Sunday

La Rochelle v Toulon (2005)

(M.Scott--TAG)