Andy Farrell

Andrew David Farrell (born 30 May 1975) is an English professional rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union player who has been head coach of the Ireland national team since 2019.

He was a goal-kicking in rugby league, who played for Wigan between 1991 and 2004, winning six Championships and four Challenge Cups, as well as numerous individual awards.

He frequently captained Wigan, England and Great Britain.

After developing with local club Orrell St James, he made his first-team début for his hometown club Wigan at the age of 16 in 32–8 victory over Keighley in the 1991–92 Regal Trophy match at Central Park, Wigan on Sunday 24 November 1991.

Also that year his son Owen Farrell was born, who also went on to become a professional rugby union player.

Farrell became the youngest player to win a Challenge Cup final in 1993 when at 17 years and 11 months he came on as a substitute against Widnes.

He then became a full international by the age of 18, making his début against New Zealand later in 1993.

After the 1993–94 Rugby Football League season, during which he scored a try in Wigan's Challenge Cup Final victory, Farrell travelled with his club to Brisbane and played as a in their 1994 World Club Challenge victory over Australian premiers, the Brisbane Broncos.

He rates this as one of his greatest achievements in rugby league.

Farrell was selected to play for Great Britain against Australia in all three Ashes Tests of the 1994 Kangaroo tour.

Farrell earned 34 caps for Great Britain and 11 for England in rugby league, including the 1995 and 2000 World Cups, and 8 for England in rugby union, including the 2007 World Cup.

The following year he played from the bench for Wigan in the 1995 Challenge Cup Final victory over Leeds Rhinos.

At the end of the season he played as a for England in the 1995 World Cup Final, but Australia won the match and retained the Cup.

In July 1996, Farrell was appointed Wigan Warriors' captain and later that year, aged 21 years and four months, became the youngest-ever captain of the Great Britain team, leading the 1996 Lions tour of New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

In October that year he won the prestigious Man of Steel Award.

He was also named at in 1996's Super League Dream Team.

On 28 September 1997 in the 1997 Super League Premiership Final, Farrell played at in Wigan's 33–20 win over St. Helens at Old Trafford before a crowd of 33,389.

He was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match.

In the 1997 post-season, Farrell was selected to captain Great Britain at in all three matches of the Super League Test series against Australia.

He captained the Wigan Warriors as a in their 1998 Super League Grand Final victory over Leeds Rhinos.

Farrell played for the Wigan Warriors at, scoring a try and kicking two goals, in their 2000 Super League Grand Final defeat by St. Helens.

In the post-season he was selected to captain England in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup.

In 2001 Farrell set the Wigan club record for most points in a season with 429 and most points in a Super League championship season with 388.

He is only the second Wigan Warriors player to score more than 3,000 points in all competitions.

Farrell played for the Wigan Warriors at in their 2001 Super League Grand Final defeat by the Bradford Bulls.

He celebrated his testimonial match in 2002 and also captained Wigan to victory in the 2002 Challenge Cup.

Farrell played for Wigan Warriors at and kicked two goals in the 2003 Super League Grand Final defeat by the Bradford Bulls.

He was inducted into the Order of the British Empire for services to the game in the New Year's list of 2004.

He won the Players' Player Award and twice won the Man of Steel Award.

Now Britain's oldest international, Farrell was then selected in the Great Britain team to compete in the end-of-season 2004 Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament.

In the final against Australia he played at, missing his only goal-kick in the Lions' 4–44 loss.

Farrell was awarded the Golden Boot as the best player in the world in 2004.

In rugby union, he played for Saracens from 2005 to 2009, mostly as a centre.

After retiring as a player, Farrell continued in rugby union as a coach, working as an assistant coach with Saracens, Munster, England, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.

He became head coach of Ireland in 2019.

He coached them to a 2–1 series victory in New Zealand in 2022 and a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2023.

In January 2024, Farrell was appointed coach of the Lions tour to Australia in 2025.

Farrell was born in Wigan, Lancashire.

His father played rugby league.

Farrell first played rugby league at age 10 at a summer camp run by Graeme West, who was Wigan Warriors' captain at the time.