A Fond Farewell to Owen Farrell ....

A lad and his dad....
By TheSaracens
June 14 2024

Let me take you back to May 28th 2011: Twickenham – our Premiership Final against Leicester: Sarries are showing amazing character and fortitude to hold Leicester Tigers back during 9 minutes of added time: keeping his cool in all of this is a teenage fly half, and Sarries win the game 22-18 to take the club’s first Premiership Title. Of Sarries’ 22 points, 17 are scored by the 19 year-old Owen Andrew O’Loughlin Farrell - if you’re good enough, you’re old so they say, and in this case it was so true! I repost here the final part of my report on the match: “10 metres out now and Leicester try again – a couple of drives then Flood picks a pass off his toes and heads for the line. Oh no you don’t – Farrell is in his way, the ball disappears into a mele and Barnes is holding his arm up again. It takes a second to realise that this time the penalty is ours and we have won!!!!!!! Fortunately Farrell has the presence of mind to kick the ball out then everyone goes crazy. Like thousands of other Sarries’ fans I have no voice. We were there with them in those last 9 minutes, the 16th man. What fabulous defence. What amazing commitment. I guess on the day we just wanted it more than they did. The rest of the afternoon is all a blur. We spoke to loads of people we’d never met before. We were on cloud 9, 10 and 11! As Borthwick lifted that enormous trophy we cheered as never before. What a day. What a team. Barritt, Botha, Burger, Borthwick, Brown, Brits – Brilliant. And Farrell – Fantastic!”

In fact, Owen had made his professional debut for Sarries two and a half years earlier, in October 2008 at the age of 17 years and 11 days (a record until it was broken by his old mate George Ford in 2009) in a home defeat to Llanelli Scarlets in the EDF Energy Cup: two seasons later he was out on loan to Bedford Blues, only to be recalled to Allianz Park (as it was then) when Derick Hougaard became unavailable.

After a couple of games on the bench, when Sarries tried first Nils Mordt (remember him?) then Alex Goode at 10, Brendan Venter gave in to the inevitable and selected Owen - the rest, as they say, is history.

It’s funny to think that young Owen initially didn’t want to go anywhere near Rugby Union!

When his father Andy signed for Sarries and brought his family to Hertfordshire, the 14 year old Owen commuted back to Wigan to continue his career in league, although fortunately it didn’t last and League’s loss was very much Union’s gain.

Owen had the perfect genetic pedigree for the oddball game:

Not only was his father Andy an all-time Rugby League great for Great Britain, England and Wigan during a glittering career in the 13-man code, but his maternal uncle - after whom he is named - was none other than former England and Wigan Rugby League Captain, Sean O’Loughlin; his paternal uncle was Rugby League Irish International Phil Farrell; a generation further back, Owen's maternal grandfather was Keiron O’Loughlin who enjoyed a very long and successful Rugby League career with Wigan and numerous other clubs; another cousin, Liam Farrell, plays League for Wigan and added to the family's bulging trophy cabinet earlier this month when he captained his side (scoring a try in the process) to an 18-8 win over Warrington in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.

Having claimed the black and red number 10 shirt as his own, Owen was only ever going to relinquish it on his terms and in the 13 years since that first Premiership title, no-one has come close to challenging him.

Owen and Sarries went from strength to strength. As Owen’s all-round game matured, so did his game management – always way beyond his tender years, Owen won Man of the Match in the 2015 Premiership Final victory over Bath; the following year he led Sarries to a first European Title when he kicked all the points in that victory over Racing 92 (he was the tournament’s top points scorer that season) and helped his team retain the Premiership title with victory over Exeter.

2017 saw Farrell overtake Glen Jackson as Saracens’ top points scorer; he was also awarded the accolade of European Player of the year after Sarries defeated Clermont in Edinburgh to win a second European title; 2018 saw Owen lead his team to another Premiership title and in 2019 he steered the team to a remarkable 3^rd European title in Newcastle with victory over Leinster, but it it was that season’s Premiership title win that sticks in the mind: Sarries were playing Exeter Chiefs and with 20 minutes to go Exeter seemed to have the victory on a plate; Owen somehow picked the whole team up, inspired them to score 3 tries and propelled them to an unlikely victory - that day, defeat was not an option, and this is something I have seen him do several times when the team seemed to be floundering, and by sheer will-power he seems to be able to lift the team on his broad shoulders and demand a win.

Then came 2020 and the dark times: the salary cap scandal saw Sarries relegated to the Championship and COVID had a severe impact on rugby. Owen was one of the first to pledge his future to Saracens despite the relegation - one story at the time had it that at a players’ meeting he declared “I’m staying – who’s with me???” - and it was that positivity, along with Jamie George and Elliot Daly’s similar attitude, which encouraged the bulk of the team to remain with the club. Owen agreed to forgo £300,000 of his salary when COVID hit the game so severely.

Owen was named club captain as late as 2021 (whereas in practice he had been captain on the field for far longer, learning from Brad Barritt and following in his footsteps); he missed much of Sarries’ return to the Premiership in 2021/22 due to an ankle injury (thank you Eddie Jones) but even Owen couldn’t finish that first season with a Premiership Title when a rather flat Sarries were defeated at Twickenham by Leicester Tigers - the following season, though, it was once again the Farrell-factor which got the team over the line in the final against Sale for Owen’s 6^th Premiership Title.

Owen was capped by Stuart Lancaster back in 2012, the first of his 112 caps for his country; injuries aside he was a regular in the side until he chose to leave it earlier this year. Owen was appointed England Captain in 2019.

It seems so unfair for one of the country’s most selfless players that in many of those games he started at 12, not his best position and one could argue he wasn’t anywhere near the best 12 in the country (or for that matter at Saracens) yet he would have played anywhere in the team if he thought that was for the best; sadly, he didn’t get enough time at 10 in his prime to show the world what we saw every week at Saracens - that on his day he was the best fly-half in the world.

Owen ended his England career as the national side’s all-time leading points scorer (having broken St Jonny Wilkinson’s record during the 2023 World Cup), and he played for the Lions in 2013, 2017 and 2021 thus completing a full set of Lions Tours. There is no reason to believe he won’t be picked in 2025 as well!

We adored Owen at Sarries but sadly that wasn’t the case everywhere; supporters of most other clubs seemed to hate him.

Owen is a man who, outwardly at least, appears to be made of granite so it was a shock to the rugby world when he announced he was stepping down from the England squad in order to prioritise his and his family’s mental wellbeing; for those of us at Sarries who have been privileged to follow his career it was a very sad day, and with hindsight, it was inevitable that he would also leave the only club he had ever played for.

The media and Social Media had won.

Take the witch hunt, which was probably instrumental in World Rugby appealing the disciplinary committee’s decision not to ban him for the upgraded yellow card tackle on Taine Balsham, and subsequently getting their way and imposing a 4 week ban - can you imagine any other player that would have happened to? Where Farrell is concerned, there always seems to be another agenda, and it finally broke him.

If ever there was a true rugby man it’s Owen; yes, he has a wife and family but his entire focus seems to be on his rugby.

We all remember that when Owen’s wife Georgie gave birth to the couple’s first son at The Lister in Stevenage, Owen apparently phoned Mark McCall to say he had his boots with him and he could be at StoneX by 2.30 so he’d be fine to play! Owen has also been loyal to Jack, a young lad from Wigan who was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in 2011, and supports Joining Jack, a charity launched by Jack’s parents to try and find a treatment for the condition; Owen is an Ambassador for Joining Jack, and in a supportive gesture joins his fingers to make a JJ every time he scores.

And so, Faz - as he’s affectionately known - and his family are off to pastures new for a life in Paris.

How the man from Wigan will cope with the niceties of la vie francaise who knows! Potentially it’s a great opportunity to secure his future financially away from the limelight (he will be just another superstar among superstars at La Defense); at 32 he should have a few more years left in him, and I’d love to see him come back to StoneX for one last hurrah but you know I don’t think he will.

So thanks for everything Owen, and good luck in your next chapter - we have been very lucky to watch you grow and mature and become the fabulous player and leader you are today; you leave us with many, many memories and your huge boots will be very difficult to fill but rugby, like life, moves on.

Good luck also to the 2 new lads who are trying to take your place next season - but I will be looking out for the Racing result every week as well.

Photo courtesy of the SSA

A Fond Farewell to Owen Farrell ....

Posted by: TheSaracens.com (IP Logged)

Date: 14/06/2024 14:02

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:07:21:20:35:45 by Darraghgirl.