FARRELL’S ENGLAND CAREER LOOKS TO BE AT END

OWEN FARRELL may have played his last game for England after French club Racing 92 confirmed that he will join them next season.

The Saracens fly-half and captain will link up with the Parisians from July 1 on a two-year deal.

Farrell, 32, had already announced that he would miss this season’s Six Nations in order to prioritise his and his family’s mental well-being.

And he will become ineligible for international selection when he moves to France due to RFU rules that do not permit players who ply their trade outside of England to be selected for their national team.

His last England appearance was the World Cup bronze medal match against Argentina in Paris on October 27, which England won narrowly.

Racing are coached by former Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster, who gave Farrell his Test debut in 2012 when he was England boss. Farrell has gone on to win 112 caps and is England’s record international points scorer.

He would be 34 if he leaves Racing after two years and returns to England, suggesting any international return would be unlikely.

Farrell, though, would be on the British and Irish Lions’ radar for their 2025 Australia tour, for which his father, Ireland boss Andy, will be head coach.

Jamie George is taking over the England captaincy, and he insists he is ready for the pressure despite seeing the toll it took on Farrell, a close friend of his.

When first offered the role by Steve Borthwick earlier this month, the 33-year-old Lions hooker was told to take a weekend to make his decision. But having considered all aspects of the captaincy, George knew he only had one choice.

‘When you’re given the weekend to go and think about things, the obvious thing to do is to go and look at both sides of the coin,’ George said.

‘And for me, there are so many positives that come with this. This is the greatest achievement of my life. Stepping out on the field in Rome is going to be one of the best moments that I will ever experience.

‘And I felt like it was a decision that if I had turned down for other reasons I would have absolutely regretted because I’m at a good stage of my career to step up and take this on.

‘I have a good understanding of what might be out there to come, but at the same time I’m also hopeful that we’ve learned a lot of lessons from the Owen situation.

‘A lot of people out there have a better understanding of the reality of life, the reality of professional rugby players, that we are all human beings.

‘So I’m hopeful for a much more positive environment to be able to work in.

‘I’m not hiding away from the fact there is additional pressure and responsibility. I personally think that pressure is a privilege.

‘I spoke to Owen about it. He was probably one of the first people I told when Steve asked me. That was the natural thing to do because Owen and I are very, very close.

‘The only thing he said to me was that if I needed anything, he is the first person I should call and that he would always be there to have a conversation. That is invaluable to me.’

Even when offering the ultimate position in English rugby, Borthwick made it clear that it comes with challenges.

‘We sort of tip-toed our way around the captaincy conversation, but we also laid the foundations for it,’ George said.

‘We spoke a bit about what it

Farrell will be on the Lions’ radar for Australia tour

might look like and then Steve was amazing and said “take the weekend to have a think about it because it can have a big impact on you, as we’ve seen”.

‘It was a bit like a proposal! At the time I wanted to snap his hand off and say yes, but it was good to be able to speak to my family over the weekend and get their thoughts on it all.

‘I phoned him first thing on the Monday to accept.’

Scotland, meanwhile, are following Leinster’s co-captaincy model and have appointed Bath standoff Finn Russell and Glasgow flanker Rory Darge.

Gregor Townsend removed the Scotland captaincy from Jamie Ritchie as he is no longer a ‘nailedon starter’ in his line-up.

Edinburgh star Ritchie has been his on-field leader since succeeding Stuart Hogg in 2022 and was widely expected to continue in the role following last year’s World Cup.

Darge, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Andy Christie, Luke Crosbie and Josh Bayliss are all viable back-row options, leaving Ritchie with a fight on his hands just to make the team.