Stuart Lancaster breaks silence on Racing's signing of Owen Farrell

Stuart Lancaster has shed light on his conversations with Owen Farrell which this week culminated in Racing 92 announcing that they had signed the England Rugby World Cup captain for the next two seasons.

The deal, which will be rubberstamped next week when Farrell visits Paris to undergo his medical, sent shockwaves through the game in England as the 32-year-old was expected to renew his Saracens contract and also make himself available for Test squad selection after deciding to take a sabbatical for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations.

Instead, all roads will lead to France for Farrell from next July through to the summer of 2026 and Lancaster, who coached England from 2012 to 2015, has explained exactly why that will be the case.

Joe Simmonds on Life at PAU

Joe Simmonds on Life at PAU

Lancaster, who took over at Racing last summer following seven seasons at Leinster in Ireland,  hosted a media briefing on Friday ahead of his club’s Sunday night showdown with Toulouse at La Defense Arena.

When asked by RugbyPass to detail the chain of events that resulted in last Monday’s statement that Farrell would be signing, he said: “It takes a bit of time to get the agreements sorted out between the clubs, so that disappears above my head a little bit.

“I have not spoken to Owen a huge number of times but we didn’t need to. When we did speak we had a really good, deep conversation about what the challenges were, what the opportunities were, the strengths of the move, what were the potential threats, but he has got a lot of really good people around him; he has got a great family.

“So ultimately it wasn’t my decision, it was his decision. We presented a case where we thought we could develop him and he took that. In terms of the timeline, he made the decision (in November) not to play for England and things rolled off the back of that. That was how it played out.”

It was January 5 when it originally emerged via the French media that Farrell was “very close” to signing for Racing. This spectacular rumour ignited huge debate amongst English rugby fans. Seventeen days later, a deal was officially struck. It was understandably headline news in England, but what was the reaction in Lancaster’s neck of the woods in France?

“It’s similar in that people were generally surprised initially at the decision to step away from international rugby because that is such a big decision for any player. I can’t comment on externally because I don’t know that many people in Paris to ask.

“But I can say internally, even the players who play in his position (at Racing) are excited because they can see that they can learn from him. And the experienced players, the lads who have played against him like Siya (Kolisi) and Gael (Fickou) etc, they were the first people to come up to say to me, ‘What a great signing; we can’t wait to have him here’. That’s good enough for me. And the young players, they will just benefit from his experience.

“Ultimately what we are all trying to do here, Jacky (Lorenzetti) and Laurent (Travers) in particular, is to create a club that has a long term future, long term success. We are only passing through really. I’ll hopefully be here four years; who knows what will happen after that. Owen will be here for a few years.

“But you want to leave something. Dan Carter came in during the (recent) World Cup and I asked him the question in front of the players, ‘What was it about Racing that you enjoyed the most?’ He said everything. He said I just love it, the time in my career when I came.

“He said I was high profile in New Zealand, I came to Paris I was anonymous because it’s such a big city and people didn’t know me too much and he said I really enjoyed that. Enjoyed the culture. Why did Siya Kolisi come to Racing? Because Dan Carter had recommended it – and there is a lot of similarities between Jonny Wilkinson in Toulon and Dan Carter in Racing and Owen now I think for sure.”

Adding that there were lots of things he thinks he would like to work with Farrell on, Lancaster explained: “He has played under the Saracens coaches and been very, very effective and coached brilliantly over there. In terms of his ability to work off the ball and the ability to constantly push himself, to attack the line and to play around the corner and play really aggressive, attacking rugby is something that I would like to work with him on.

“He has got very good core skills but his ability to really play out the line is really the biggest thing I’m excited about and challenging him in that way. Build on his defensive mindset but make sure that he controls that in the right way and really help him integrate into a French team with a French calling system, with French language and use his leadership skills almost like a pop-up leadership, like a model of leaders where he is not necessarily at the top.

“He is part of a leadership team so he doesn’t necessarily feel he has to speak all the time, he doesn’t feel he has to give the final team talk, so use his leadership in a different way, more one-to-one, more selective how he develops other people. Because often when you are a leader and captain of England, Saracens or whatever, you are always thinking, ‘What am I going to say before the final team talk, what am I going to say before the game starts, at half-time?’

“He has got Gael Fickou, he has got Siya Kolisi, he has got Henry Chavancy, Wenceslas Lauret who has been a great leader for us this year – you have got lots of leaders who I am trying to develop Racing so I think I’d like to try and help him develop a different way of leading – they are the main things in my mind.”

What is Farrell’s French like? “He will be keen to learn as best as he can before he arrives as I was, but it’s a complex language to learn when they speak it fast. I’m getting better; I’m sure he will get better. What a great thing, though, particularly when you have got two young kids as well – they can come and experience all that and over a couple of years the kids probably will be more fluent than him and Georgie.”

When it was announced in late November that Farrell was opting out of the England selection picture for the Six Nations, a selection he will be ineligible for when he does leave the Premiership for the Top 14, the desire for a mental refresh was foremost in the player’s mind.

He will certainly get that in the coming months with the Six Nations on and Saracens not having another league game until late March following this Saturday’s clash with Exeter. However, what is the lie of the land in France; will living in Paris be conducive to helping Farrell’s state of mind in the long term?

Speaking for his own experience since last July, Lancaster reckoned the cross-Channel switch would definitely suit his new signing. “It’s the change of environment, and everything is different here in Paris. It is for me. Being from Leeds and then some years in Dublin, everything is different.

“The obvious from driving on the other side of the road, the architecture, the culture, lifestyle, and it’s invigorating really. So I think that will be good for him to make that sort of change.

“How you get your point of view across when you’re not fluent in the language, you can’t just talk and talk and talk and expect people to understand. You have got to be really succinct in what you are saying, think about what you say.

“So I think he will have the mental break because obviously he is not going to be involved in the Six Nations, there aren’t Premiership games on during that block. He will have an end-of-season run-in with Saracens and I know from my experience; I was announced earlier when I left Leinster to come to Racing – I was announced in September (2022) – but he has got a reasonable lead-in.

“He will commit everything to Saracens, which is rightly so, but you think at the end of the season, there is no summer tour, it’s just about coming to settle in, get a house, settle into Paris in July, start a pre-season in August and then the Top 14 starts September 8 and away with go… He will get a mental break now. I’m sure he will rip into it with Saracens and will want to finish well and then settle in July and away we go.”