England skipper set to turn back on nation

By Charles Richardson of Daily Telegraph UK

Owen Farrell is on the verge of turning his back on English rugby with the Saracens fly-half in advanced talks to sign for French club Racing 92, Telegraph Sport understands.

Farrell’s contract with Saracens, his boyhood club, runs out at the end of this season and, in a bombshell development, the club overseen by former England head coach Stuart Lancaster on the outskirts of Paris are closing in on the signature of England’s best known player.

In October, Farrell was offered the chance to remain as Saracens’ marquee player ahead of Maro Itoje.

Midi Olympique and L’Equipe, France’s respective rugby and sport newspapers, reported on Friday that Farrell was in “advanced talks” with Racing 92 over a deal for the start of next season, reuniting with World Cup team-mate and England star Henry Arundell. The outlets wrote that Farrell would sign either a two or three-year deal, with L’Equipe adding that a verbal agreement had been made between the two parties.

Later on Friday, Racing 92, who lost star fly-half Finn Russell to Bath at the end of last season, denied any agreement between the two parties, but Telegraph Sport understands that talks have taken place. Lancaster gave Farrell an England debut in his first match as head coach in 2012 and enlisted the father of the then 21-year-old, Andy, as his defence coach.

“Racing 92 is regularly the subject of transfer speculation regarding moves within the squad,” the French club wrote in a statement. “We are delighted that our club has such appeal. However, we deny any agreement concerning the English player, Owen Farrell.”

Farrell stopped English rugby in its tracks when his club, Saracens, announced in November that their captain would be taking an indefinite break from international rugby, having skippered England to a third-place finish at last year’s World Cup in France and surpassing Jonny Wilkinson as the country’s record points scorer.

Throughout that tournament, Farrell became a lightning rod for vitriol, with some England fans booing the captain during the warm-ups of matches. The 32-year-old cited mental-health concerns for himself and his family as the reason for his international break.

Since returning from rugby’s global showpiece, Farrell has continued to captain Saracens, featuring in seven matches, losing only to Bulls away in the Champions Cup and Sale away in the Premiership. On Saturday, he will lead his club in a crunch domestic match against Leicester at Welford Road.

By November 2024, the Rugby Football Union will have offered up to 25 ‘hybrid’ (enhanced Elite Player Squad) contracts to its England internationals. The identities of those offered hybrid contracts remains undefined – aside from Arundell, Itoje and Jamie George – but should Farrell cross the Channel at the end of the season, with his international future uncertain, it is likely he will be turning down an RFU deal.

On Thursday, Steve Borthwick said he was “hopeful” of seeing Farrell in an England shirt again in the future as England’s head coach offered his perspective for the first time on his former captain’s decision to step away from the international game, with no date set for his return. Should Farrell depart for France, the two Smiths – Fin and Marcus – alongside George Ford would be expected to compete for the England fly-half jersey.

“It takes a lot of courage to do what he’s done,” Borthwick said on Thursday. “As we reflect, in England alone we’ve seen a player, a captain, two match officials, step away at the top of their game because of certain issues. There are societal issues here that are going on. The online hate that is spread is not OK, it’s not right.

“For people to have to endure that, their families to have to endure that, to drive people out of the game is just appalling. I don’t have the answers to it, but I do know it’s wrong and they’re not true rugby fans that are saying this stuff.

“This is fast paced, and changing, and I don’t think any of us expected what happened at that World Cup in that area, or for it to be at that level of vitriol against certain people and certain teams. We’ve looked really closely at what support we give for our players, management team, the officials, the families of everyone involved in the team. There is a big area there where we’re looking to ensure we’re maximising every bit of support we can get.”

Racing 92 have been looking to recruit a fly-half since Russell’s departure at the end of last season. Marcus Smith, Farrell’s one-time rival for the England No 10 jersey, was on Lancaster’s radar as a possible replacement but instead opted to remain at Harlequins. This season, Racing 92′s fly-half options are Antoine Gibert, Tristan Tedder and Martin Méliande.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission