Andy Farrell has turned his back on Saracens and in a sensational U-turn will rejoin England, The Times can reveal.
The former backs coach rejected overtures from Stuart Lancaster in April to stay with the club out of loyalty, but yesterday Farrell told Saracens he has had second thoughts and wanted to leave as soon as possible. Whether he will be released in time for him to fly out to join England’s touring party, who landed in South Africa yesterday, remains to be seen.
The staggering development will be a severe blow to Saracens who gave him his opportunity in rugby union after his cross-code switch from Wigan and set him on his coaching career, which led to his secondment to England for the RBS Six Nations Championship.
The 36-year-old, whose son Owen is an integral part of the new-look England squad that Lancaster has been building, has told the club that he will serve a six-month notice period. A statement released by Saracens this morning appeared to indicate they would not enforce that, but the club will certainly demand the maximum compensation for their head coach who has two years remaining on his contract.
It was the RFU’s initial failure to offer more than £60,000 compensation to Saracens and the protracted period of negotiations that made Farrell think twice about a full-time role with England and enabled Saracens to convince him that his future lay with completing unfinished business at Vicarage Road. Mike Catt was then appointed as interim attack coach to join Lancaster and Graham Rowntree for the five-match tour to South Africa.
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Lancaster was hugely disappointed and embarrassed that Farrell, whom he holds in the highest regard and who had been one of the coaching triumverate which had transformed England’s fortunes on and off the field, had slipped through the net. He made his feelings clear to the RFU, whose original negotiations had been handled by Rob Andrew.
However, contact was recently reopened behind the scenes, culminating in today’s revelation and Farrell’s departure which will leave relations between the club and the RFU at an all-time low.
Saracens this morning confirmed Farrell had resigned and revealed that Kevin Sorrell has been promoted to the position of backs coach.
“We are sorry to see Andy leave, and we wish him well in the future,” Nigel Wray, the chairman, said.
Sorrell, the former centre who played more than 300 games for Saracens, had been working as a coach at the North London club after retiring from playing two years ago.