Owen Farrell is seen as the face of English Rugby for the last decade. He is one of the best rugby players to come from England, but where exactly in England is the Fly-half from?
Where is Owen Farrell from? Owen Farrell was born in Higher End which is in Wigan in the North of England. Farrell spent the majority of his childhood growing up in Wigan, before moving to Harpenden in Hertfordshire when he was 14.
If you listen to Owen Farrell speak for not very long, it is quite easy to figure out where he is from. Owen Farrell was born in Wigan. His family are from Wigan, with his father also being born in Wigan. Owen spent the majority of his childhood growing up in Wigan, due to his father’s rugby career.
Owen’s father Andy had joined Wigan Warriors the same year that Owen was born. Andy Farrell played for Wigan for the next 13 years, which meant the Farrell family stayed in Wigan. However, Andy’s rugby career meant Owen did not spend his entire childhood in Wigan.
When Owen Farrell was 14, he moved with his family down to Harpenden in Hertfordshire. This was because his father Andy had left Wigan and decided to switch codes. Andy Farrell accepted an offer to play Rugby Union for Saracens which is why the family had to move down south.
Owen Farrell spent the last few years of his childhood in Harpenden and this is how he joined the Saracens Academy. Despite those final few years growing up in Hertfordshire, you would certainly say that Owen Farrell is from Wigan. He was born in Wigan and spent the majority of his childhood in Wigan and the Farrell family is from Wigan.
Where did Owen Farrell grow up?
Owen Farrell grew up in Wigan which is in the north of England. Owen Farrell was born in Wigan and lived there with his family until the age of 14. He went to St John Fisher Catholic High School in Wigan.
Owen Farrell grew up in Wigan because his father Andy was playing for Wigan Warriors during Owen’s childhood. He did spend some of his childhood growing up in Hertfordshire due to his father Andy playing for Saracens.
Who was England’s rugby captain before Owen Farrell?
Owen Farrell has been the captain of the England Rugby team since 2018. So who was the captain before Owen Farrell took charge?
Dylan Hartley was the last permanent captain of the England rugby team prior to Farrell becoming captain. The Worcester Academy graduate moved to Northampton Saints in 2005 when he was just 19 years old. Hartley became the team’s starter in 2006-07 and showed he was international quality quite quickly.
This led to Hartley making his international debut in 2008. Despite being born in New Zealand, Hartley qualified for England due to his mother being English. Hartley moved to England to try to play rugby professionally when he was just 16 years old and it worked out well for him.
Hartley made his England debut in 2008 against the Pacific Islanders, making his first start a year later. Hartley was not part of the England squad at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but Eddie Jones brought him in after the disaster at the World Cup. Jones put so much faith in Hartley that he was named England captain for the 2016 Six Nations.
England went on to win the Grand Slam in that tournament as well as leading England to a first-ever away series win against Australia in June of that same year. Hartley was a brilliant England captain and took the team to a world record-equalling run of 18 test victories in a row. England won two Six Nations titles under Dylan Hartley’s leadership.
However, by 2018, Hartley’s play was declining and it was clear that England were looking at other options for the Hooker spot. Injuries had taken him out of the international scene and he did not make an appearance for England after 2018, retiring from rugby in November 2019, having missed out on the 2019 Rugby World Cup due to a knee injury.
Owen Farrell became the team’s permanent captain in 2018 and has held that position ever since, despite his starting spot in the team sometimes being called into question.
How old was Owen Farrell when he first played for England?
Owen Farrell has been a mainstay in the England team for the last decade. Due to that, he played for England for the first time at a very young age.
Owen Farrell was just 20 years old when he made his debut for England. When Stuart Lancaster was appointed as England’s head coach, one of his first big decisions was to hand a large group of players their England debut not long after the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Owen Farrell was one of those players, making his debut against Scotland in the first game of the 2012 Six Nations. At the time, Owen was just 20 years old which made him the youngest member of the England squad. However, he already had a huge amount of experience in top-flight rugby, having made his debut for Saracens in 2008.
How old was Andy Farrell when Owen was born?
The fact that Andy Farrell and Owen Farrell almost played a game together has made people question the age gap between the two, as well as how old Andy was when Owen Farrell was born.
Andy Farrell was just 16 years old when his son Owen was born. Andy and his partner Colleen were both just 16 years old when they had their first child Owen Farrell. At the time of Owen’s birth, Andy Farrell was only just breaking into the Wigan Warriors team, mainly due to being so young.
He was only just starting his rugby career when Owen was born and so the family did pretty well to raise a future England captain. That age gap meant Owen and Andy were both contracted to Saracens for a year and would have trained together with the team.