Owen Farrell

Owen Farrell
Farrell in December 2015
Full name Owen Andrew Farrell
Date of birth (1991-09-24) 24 September 1991
Place of birth Billinge, Greater Manchester
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 15 st 2 lb (96 kg)[1]
School St. John Fisher Catholic High School
St George's School
Notable relative(s) Andy Farrell
Liam Farrell (cousin)
Sean O'Loughlin (uncle)
Keiron O'Loughlin (grandfather)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Fly-half, Centre
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2008– Saracens 138 (1,410)
correct as of 29 October 2016.
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)

2011
2012–
2013		 England U18
England U20
England
British and Irish Lions
7
47
1
(10)
(540)
(14)
correct as of 3 December 2016.

Owen Andrew Farrell (born 24 September 1991) is a professional English rugby union player, currently playing for Aviva Premiership side Saracens. His father is Andy Farrell, who played both rugby league and rugby union for England.

His primary position is fly-half, but he often plays at centre.

Early career

Farrell was born on 24 September 1991 in Billinge Higher End, Greater Manchester. Farrell is of Irish descent on both his father and mother's side.[2] He began playing rugby league in his hometown at the age of eight for Wigan St Patricks.[3] When his father Andy signed for Saracens in 2005, his family moved to Harpenden where Owen at the age of 13 or 14 was introduced to rugby union for the first time.[4]

Saracens

Farrell held the record of youngest player ever to appear in English professional rugby union after playing for Saracens 11 days after his 17th birthday, in a 26–17 home defeat against Llanelli Scarlets in the EDF Energy Cup on 5 October 2008,[5] until this record was broken in November 2009 by George Ford of Leicester Tigers.

In the 2010–11 season Farrell signed for Bedford Blues on loan. However he returned to Saracens and was pivotal in the 2010–11 Aviva Premiership Final, kicking five penalties and converting James Short's try, ending with a personal haul of 17 points in the 22–18 victory over reigning champions Leicester Tigers.

In the 2014–15 season Farrell won the man of the match award in the Premiership Final, scoring a try and kicking a further ten points. Saracens went on to win the final 28–16.

The following season. Farrell won the Fan's Player of the Season for Saracens, and kicked all 21 points against Dan Carter's Racing 92 in the 2016 European Rugby Champions Cup Final, winning them the game. He subsequently was awarded the Top Points Scorer award with 129 points scored in the tournament.[6]

England

2012

He was given his first call-up to the England Elite Player Squad when Stuart Lancaster selected him in his squad for the 2012 Six Nations Championship.[7]

He made his debut on 4 February 2012 against Scotland, starting at inside centre next to his Saracens team-mates Brad Barritt and Charlie Hodgson. He kicked two penalties and a conversion, but also missed two tough penalties from around 50 metres. His next match, against Italy, saw him produce a faultless kicking display, kicking four penalties and a conversion. In the next match, against Wales, Farrell played at fly-half for the first time in an England shirt after Charlie Hodgson sustained a finger injury in the week leading up to the Wales game. Once again his goal-kicking was impressive, missing just one kick out of five, but he was replaced by Toby Flood later in the game after appearing to injure his leg after a clearance kick. He then played against France and Ireland. Farrell kicked well in the Ireland game, only missing one conversion. He finished the competition with 63 points from five games.

The 2012 summer tour of South Africa saw Farrell get selected again. He played all of the warm-up game against the Barbarians and scored a respectable 17 points in a game that England won comfortably. Farrell again played all through the first match against South Africa, where England lost 22–17 in a tight game. He kicked all four of his penalties but missed a conversion. He came on as a substitute in the second test; he scored no points and couldn't help England avoid defeat for a second time. Farrell had two spells on the pitch in the third test; he scored two penalties in a tight game that ended 14–14, twice attempting to score his first drop goal but missing each time. He ended the series with 18 points from three appearances.

Farrell played his first game in the autumn test series as a substitute and scored a conversion. On 1 December 2012 he started England's game against New Zealand and scored a total of 17 points in helping England to a record-breaking victory; it was their greatest-ever margin of victory over the All Blacks.

He was nominated for IRB Player of the Year, but lost out to the New Zealand stand-off Dan Carter.

2013

Farrell started in the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland, only missing one kick in a near-faultless display. He set up one try and assisted England to a strong start in their Six Nations campaign. He was also nominated the RBS Six Nations man of the match for his performance.

After a break from English rugby due to the Lions tour, Farrell returned to England for the 2013 QBE autumn internationals. He played the full 80 minutes of the match against the Wallabies, kicking two penalties (but also missing three with one hitting the post), two conversions and scoring his debut England try, breaking through a gap in the Australian line of defence and touching down under the posts. His try proved to be the deciding score, as England went on to win 20–13.

2015

In January 2015 Farrell was ruled out of the entire Six Nations competition with a serious knee injury.[8] However, after recovering from his injury Farrell was picked to train in the England camp ahead of the England 2015 World Cup. He went on to start in England's first World Cup warm-up match on 15 August, against France, scoring two out of three conversions and consequently helping England win the game 19–14. Farrell was picked by Lancaster as one of two fly-halves in the 31-man World Cup squad. Farrell came on as a replacement for George Ford in the opening match of the world cup against Fiji, and played for the full 80 minutes in England's second 2015 World Cup match, a defeat by Wales, scoring 20 points. He subsequently kept his place to face Australia the following weekend, which game England went on to lose after Farrell was sin-binned in the 70th minute.

2016

In January 2016, after his fine displays for Saracens, Farrell was selected in the first squad of new England head coach Eddie Jones. With injuries to Henry Slade and Manu Tuilagi leaving few choices at inside centre, Farrell was selected at 12 in Jones' first two matches, away to Scotland and Italy respectively. He was selected as one of England's vice-captains for the Six Nations, along with Mike Brown and Billy Vunipola, under Dylan Hartley's captaincy. In the first two matches, Farrell contributed 22 points including a try against Italy, and assumed the captaincy when Hartley was substituted late on.

Farrell went on to start at inside centre in all five of England's games during the Six Nations tournament, winning his first major international trophy as part of England's Grand Slam-winning side. Farrell finished the tournament as the leading scorer with 69 points, bringing his personal tally for England to 412 and making him the second-highest points scorer in the history of the England national team, with only Jonny Wilkinson having scored more.

In the summer of 2016, England embarked on a three-match series in Australia. Farrell was initially picked to start at fly-half for the first test, however, he was soon reverted back to inside centre with Ford assuming the No.10 shirt. England would go on to win the series 3-0, with Farrell playing a pivotal role, being named man of the match in the third test and scoring 66 points on tour.[9]

Owen was nominated for the six man shortlist for the 2016 World Player of the Year Award for the second time in his career, alongside his Saracens team mates Billy Vunipola and Maro Itoje.

British and Irish Lions

He was named as part of the British and Irish Lions squad for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. Farrell started for the Lions in Hong Kong on 1 June against the Barbarians, kicking three penalties and three conversions in a convincing 59–8 win for the Lions.

In his second game against Western Force, Farrell started on the bench, came on in the 66th minute and scored a try with his first touch, helping the Lions towards a 70–17 win.

He gained his first Lions test cap, coming off the bench to replace Jonathan Sexton, in the 16–41 series decider.

International statistics

As of 3 December 2016:[10]

Year Appearances Tries Conversions Penalties Drop Goals Points
2012 12 0 8 30 1 109
2013 8 1 9 21 0 86
2014 10 1 18 18 0 95
2015 6 0 10 10 1 53
2016 12 3 28 42 0 197
Total 47 5 73 121 2 540

International analysis by opposition

Against Played Won Lost Drawn Tries Points %
 Argentina
2
2
0
0
0
26
100.00%
 Australia
8
6
2
0
2
104
75.00%
 Fiji
3
3
0
0
0
20
100.00%
 France
5
4
1
0
0
49
80.00%
 Ireland
5
5
0
0
0
57
100.00%
 Italy
3
3
0
0
2
53
100.00%
 New Zealand
4
1
3
0
0
55
25.00%
 Samoa
1
1
0
0
0
0
100.00%
 Scotland
4
4
0
0
0
38
100.00%
 South Africa
6
1
4
1
1
56
16.67%
 Uruguay
1
1
0
0
0
8
100.00%
 Wales
5
2
3
0
0
74
40.00%
Total 47 33 13 1 5 540 71.27%

International tries

Try Opposing team Location Venue Competition Date Result Score
1  Australia London, England Twickenham Stadium 2013 Autumn international 2 November 2013 Win 20 – 13 [11]
2  Italy Rome, Italy Stadio Olimpico 2014 Six Nations 15 March 2014 Win 52 - 11 [12]
3  Italy Rome, Italy Stadio Olimpico 2016 Six Nations 14 February 2016 Win 40 - 9 [13]
4  Australia Melbourne, Australia AAMI Park 2016 England tour of Australia 18 June 2016 Win 23 - 7 [14]
5  South Africa London, England Twickenham Stadium 2016 Autumn international 12 November 2016 Win 37 - 21 [15]

References

  1. ↑ "Owen Farrell". Saracens. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  2. ↑ ""I've got [Dublin] ancestry that goes back three or four generations, and so has my wife."". Irish Times. 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  3. ↑ "Marsh backs young Farrell". Wigan Today. Johnston Publishing. 18 January 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Squires, Neil (3 December 2011). "Owen Farrell: Before we moved south I'd never played union, only on a computer". Daily Express. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Cleary, Mick (5 October 2008). "History boy Owen Farrell proves a chip off old block for Saracens". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  6. ↑ "Farrell boots Saracens to Champions Cup glory". ESPN. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "England ring the changes". espnscrum.com. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "Owen Farrell: England fly-half ruled out of entire Six Nations". BBC. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Owen Farrell praises Jonny Wilkinson's kicking tuition after star turn in England's series win over Australia". Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  10. ↑ "Career Figures". en.espn.co.uk. 4 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  11. ↑ "England 20-13 Australia". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  12. ↑ "Six Nations 2014: England hammer Italy and wait on Ireland". BBC Sport. 15 March 2014.
  13. ↑ "Six Nations 2016: Italy 9-40 England". BBC Sport. 14 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "England clinch historic series win in Australia with 23-7 Melbourne victory". BBC Sport. 18 June 2016.
  15. ↑ "Autumn international: England 37-21 South Africa". BBC Sport. 12 November 2016.

External links

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