Owen Farrell’s brother will qualify to play for England’s rivals in the Six Nations

VaselineJune 16, 2024

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Owen Farrell’s brother will qualify to play for England’s rivals in the Six Nations

The younger son of Andy Farrell, father of former England captain Owen Farrell, could qualify to play for Ireland in the Six Nations.

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This sets the stage for a potential future matchup with his older brother. Andy Farrell, now Ireland’s head coach in 2019, has made the big decision to move his family to Dublin, a key choice for their rugby journey.

This move was influenced by his marriage to Colleen O’Loughlin, the sister of his former Wigan team-mate Sean O’Loughlin. This union resulted in a family of four children, including Owen and Gabriel.

In 2019, as a result of their move to Ireland, Andy’s younger son Gabriel may become eligible to play for the Irish national team by residency, if not ancestry. The final decision on whether Gabriel will pursue a professional rugby career remains in the balance.

He said: “Everyone in the North West of England is from Ireland anyway. You go from Liverpool straight through East Lancs to Manchester and it’s full of Irishness. I have (Dublin) ancestry going back three or four generations, and so does my wife.

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“The big move for us, and everyone else in Wigan, is to move south. That’s the big move,” he adds with a smile. “Coming to Ireland and living in Dublin is almost like going home for me. Just the people and the family atmosphere.”

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Andy and Owen both played together for the English team Saracens and there was a great competition between them.

“He says he never lets me win,” Owen said. “But I always win anyway.”

Andy in 2020 proudly shared that Gabriel’s rugby development is progressing rapidly and that he is already surpassing the achievements of his older brother Owen at the same age.

Gabriel, who dedicates himself to honing his goal-kicking skills, indicates that he is on a promising path to becoming a talented young rugby player.

‘Early again’ – England handed easy group in Rugby World Cup 2027 draw

The 2027 Rugby World Cup draw is scheduled to take place in January 2026, providing a unique scenario with two years of international competition still to be played.

This early draw will use the World Ranking as of the end of November 2025 to determine the ranking of participating teams.

During the draw, the 24 participating teams will be divided into six groups of four teams each. Notably, this draw will take place before the end of the regional qualifiers, resulting in a dual-world approach.

On the one hand, we have the twelve automatic qualifiers from the 2023 Rugby World Cup, confirmed by their names. On the other hand, regional qualifiers will be represented as Africa 1, Europe 1, Europe 2 and so on.

The 2027 Rugby World Cup is to be hosted in Australia, marking the eleventh edition of the Men’s Rugby World Cup and the third time in Australia. The country previously co-hosted the Rugby World Cup with New Zealand in 1987 and served as sole host in 2003.

With the current world standings in mind, let’s analyze how the 2027 Rugby World Cup will shape up via Rugby Centre.