Andy Farrell OBE England Profile
Updated December 1 2007
ANDY FARRELL OBE
Club: Saracens
Position: Centre
Born: 30.05.75 | Wigan
Height: 1.93m (6’4“)
Weight: 110kg (17st 4lb)
Representative Honours: England RL, Great Britain RL
Caps: 8
Points: 5 - 1T
International Record: 2007 S, It, I, W, F(2), World Cup - USA (R), SA, Tg(R)
Andy Farrell OBE won his first cap against Scotland in last season’s RBS 6 Nations, two years after signing for Saracens in a joint deal with the Rugby Football Union in March 2005.
He followed his debut with starts against Italy and Ireland and went on this summer’s tour of South Africa but did not play after suffering concussion during a training ground collision.
Included in the 2007 Rugby World Cup squad, he started the pool game against South Africa and came on as a replacement against USA and Tonga, when he scored his first international try in rugby union.
His progress since his cross-code transfer from Wigan Warriors was held up by a succession of injuries. He sustained a damaged toe in training and needed an operation on a prolapsed disc after a car accident. It delayed his first union appearance until mid-September 2006.
His bad luck contrasted with a dozen indestructible years with Wigan for the former Great Britain rugby league captain, who won 34 caps, the first of which when he was 18.
He signed for Wigan from local amateur club Orrell St James and made his senior debut when 16. He went on to win the prestigious Man of Steel award twice and, in 1998, led his club to victory in the inaugural Grand Final at Old Trafford.
In 2000, he agreed a six year contract with Wigan worth Ј1million and the following year set a club record of 429 points in a season and a Super League best in the same year of 388. With a cultured left boot, he was one of league’s most accurate goalkickers.
Did you know?
Andy, commonly known as ‘Faz’ is one of rugby league’s most decorated players. He won the Challenge Cup and Super League and in 1996 he became the youngest captain of the Great Britain team aged 21 years and four months. He had already been the youngest winner in a Challenge Cup final at 17 years 11 months and crowned a glittering rugby league career by being awarded the Order of the British Empire medal in 2005.
He played his first representative match in the 15-a-side game for a World XV against a South African XV at the Walkers Stadium, Leicester in December 2006.
