Owen Farrell

Owen Andrew O'Loughlin Farrell (born 24 September 1991) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Saracens.

When his father Andy signed for Saracens in 2005, his family moved to Harpenden in Hertfordshire, where Owen at the age of 13 or 14 was introduced to rugby union for the first time.

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, 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.

Farrell was “man of the match” in a 26–14 defeat of Harlequins which took Saracens to third in the Aviva Premiership.

Saracens' head coach, Mark McCall told the Press Association: "Owen controlled the game with maturity beyond his years. He can play centre or fly-half with equal authority and we are delighted both with the win and with his performance."

Since 2012, Farrell has represented England internationally.

With scoring over 1,000 points throughout 100 tests, Farrell is one of the highest point scorers in test history.

Although fly-half is his preferred position, he frequently plays inside centre at test level.

His father, Ireland's current head coach Andy Farrell, played both rugby union and rugby league for England, and was captain for England rugby league and his club Wigan Warriors.

Farrell began playing rugby league in his hometown at the age of eight for Wigan St Patricks.

The 2013–14 season was a strong season for Farrell and Saracens, with the London Club reaching the Heineken Cup against Toulon, but they missed out on the title after losing the match 23–6, and there was more disappointment for Farrell and Saracens after being defeated 24–20 in the Aviva Premiership Final against Northampton at Twickenham.

Farrell struggled with injury in the 2013–14 season after being knocked out unconscious in Saracens's 49–10 win over Leicester Tigers after colliding with opponent Niki Goneva, resulting in Farrell being carried off on a stretcher in a neck brace.

In 2014, Farrell told the Guardian newspaper: "It was a huge change. I was turning 14 and at first I was adamant I didn't want to leave Wigan. All my friends were there and I loved league. It was everything I'd ever known and I was sure I wouldn't like it down south. But I was probably the first one in the family to settle."

He has two younger sisters, Elleshia and Gracie, and one younger brother, Gabriel.

His maternal uncle is former Wigan Warriors and England rugby league captain Sean O'Loughlin, while his paternal uncle Phil Farrell has played for Ireland.

He is also second cousin (via his fathers's side) to current Wigan captain and England international Liam Farrell and his younger brother Connor.

In the 2014–15 season, Farrell won the man of the match award in the Premiership Final, scoring a try and kicking a further 13 points.

Saracens went on to win the final 28–16.

The following season, Farrell won the Fans' Player of the Season for Saracens, and kicked all 21 points against Racing 92 in the 2016 European Rugby Champions Cup Final, which Saracens won.

He subsequently was awarded the Top Points Scorer award with 129 points scored in the tournament.

That season Farrell kicked 13 points again as Saracens also retained the Premiership title with a 28–20 victory over Exeter.

In 2017, Farrell overtook Glen Jackson as the Saracens' all-time leading points scorer, having scored 1548 points in his career so far.

In May 2017, Owen helped Saracens to a second successive European Champions Cup, scoring two conversions and three penalties in the final, and was named European Player of the Year.

In 2018 Farrell won his fourth Premiership title after a 27-10 victory over Exeter, in which he converted two tries.

In 2019, Farrell won the European Champions Cup for a third time, scoring 10 points in the final against Leinster at St James' Park in Newcastle.

He also won the Premiership for a fifth time, scoring three conversions and two penalties as Saracens again overcame Exeter.

In April 2020, Farrell announced that he would defer £300,000 of his wages in order to keep Saracens solvent.

The salary would be repaid over an 18 month period.

Saracens asked all players earning more than £75,000 to defer wages until the start of next season.

On 5 September 2020, in a Saracens loss to Wasps, Farrell was sent off by referee Christophe Ridley for a high tackle on Charlie Atkinson, for which he was banned 5 games.

The suspension ensured he would be available for England's entire autumn campaign, but the fly-half was ruled out Saracens' Champions Cup quarter-final match against Leinster.

Following the ban, Alex Goode replaced Farrell at fly half.

Farrell became Goode's personal coach, helping to prepare him.

In 2022, Goode told The Times: "In Paris we were a bit worried about their artificial pitch being quite hard, as it rises the [kicking] tee up a bit. Two hours before kick-off he (Farrell) was there with a scalpel cutting away at my tee for about 45 minutes, pre-game. He said: 'I'll do it to make it right for you'. He wants the best for you without question."

In April 2021, Farrell was named club captain of Saracens on a permanent basis.

Saracen's Director of Rugby Mark McCall told the Welwyn Hatfield Times: "He is thoughtful, insightful and modest but at his core he is a competitor who will never stop trying to improve."

Farrell told the press conference: "When I think of all the good captains that I've been lucky enough to be under is that they've been themselves. They've learnt a lot but they've been themselves throughout and it's important to be authentic.”

Farrell suffered an ankle injury which kept him out for the majority of the 2021–22 Gallagher Premiership season, however he did feature in the final against Leicester, which Saracens lost 15–12.