Owen Farrell strives for calmness ahead of Champions Cup final

England and Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell is hoping to emulate Racing 92 fly-half Dan Carter's calmness under pressure when they meet each other in the European Champions Cup final on Saturday.

Farrell had a fantastic Champions Cup 2015/16 season and is currently topping the chart for most points in the tournament with 106 points from eight games which includes 24 penalty kicks and 17 conversions.

Carter on the other hand has scored 56 points after playing six games and is placed fourth in the list behind Farrell, Dan Biggar and Jimmy Gopperth.

After tasting victories in major Rugby tournaments, including World Cup and having been part of four Super Rugby triumphs with the Crusaders, Carter will be looking for a clean sweep on Saturday.

Farrell has just been part of England's Grand Slam victory and without a doubt both the fly-half will have a significant role in Champions Cup final, but the 24-year-old refused to look into it as a direct shoot out between the two.

"He's been there and done it so many times," said Farrell of Carter.

"People talked about whether he could do it or not going into the World Cup. That's not for me to take notice of, but a player of his class was always going to play like he did.

"It's just how calm he is, how much he is in control of what he does that stands out.

"Trying to be calmer on the pitch, it's definitely something I'm always trying to do.

"The more you're calm, the more you're in control and the more you're thinking about the right things. That's definitely something I've taken into account."

In 2014, Saracens lost to Toulon 23-6 in the Heineken Cup final and a week later they lost to Northampton in the Aviva Premiership final by a narrow margin of 24-20.

Recalling the unpleasant memory, Farrell believes he has improved as a player since then and believes the experience he had in the last two years will prove handy.

"You think you are calm, you think you are composed, you think you are taking it all in your stride and when you look back at it you are probably not as much as you hope you had been," said Farrell of that 2014 European defeat to Toulon.

"That is probably natural it being the first occasion you have been there but the experience you have got to learn is that it is a game of rugby, it is two good teams playing in a cup final but it is just 80 minutes of rugby.

"We have got to play the game, we have not got to play anything that is around the game and the occasion: we have got to play a game of rugby.

"You have to learn from big games and big experiences, especially ones where it doesn't go your way.

"You have to take everything you possibly can. I know we are a different team since then and we know we have got better. We are just excited about hopefully putting in a big performance at the weekend.

"It was two finals in two weeks that year and it took it out of you there and then and it was good for us that we had to get on the plane the next day for the England tour to New Zealand.

"I don't know what I would have done if I had been sat at home thinking about it for however many weeks."