England Player Profiles

Owen Farrell

Key Facts

Squad	Saracens
Position	Fly half/Centre
Age	20
Height	1.88m (6'2")
Weight	96kg (15st 1lb)
Caps	5
Twitter	@owen_faz

It has taken Owen Farrell precious little time to impress with his game management and goal-kicking prowess for Saracens in the Aviva Premiership and in European competition. Four years ago, he became the youngest player at the time to make his debut in the professional game.

He landed a conversion and two penalty goals on his Test debut at centre in the 13-6 win over Scotland at Murrayfield in February 2012 and put over all his five kicks, worth 14 points, in the 19-14 victory over Italy in Rome. Another four on-target attempts against Wales at Twickenham, four out of five against France in Paris and seven out of eight against Ireland took him to 23 successful place kicks from 28 in his first five Tests. By then he also had amassed 258 points in 30 Premiership matches for Saracens.

Owen had added to his two appearances for the 2011 Grand Slam England U20 side with another four in the IRB Junior World Championship in Italy. He also landed five penalty goals and converted the only try of the Aviva Premiership final by James Short when Saracens won the title for the first time, by beating Leicester Tigers 22-18, at Twickenham last May.

His earlier kudos include a Heineken Cup Man of the Match award when Saracens edged out Racing Métro 92 by 19-14 in December 2010 after he had made a powerful impression for England U16, who he captained, and for the U17 and U18 sides.

When returning from an England U17 tour of Argentina, he not only trained with his father and fellow Saracen Andy, a rugby league icon who won eight caps at union for England, including three in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. When Farrell Snr, now England’s backs coach, fractured and dislocated a thumb against Western Force in August that year, Owen joined the match as his replacement.

Owen is a product of St George’s School in Harpenden, has been studying Business at Hertfordshire University and also spent time on loan with Bedford Blues. He began playing rugby league at the age of eight, for Wigan St Patricks, like his father. Owen most admires All Blacks fly half Dan Carter and wore the No 12 jersey at union and switched to fly half before returning to his role at centre.

Rugby’s distinctly in the family with loose forward Sean O’Loughlin, his uncle, playing for Wigan Warriors, England and Great Britain. Dad Andy, who is Saracens’ first team coach, had followed a similar path.