{"id":104227,"date":"2025-08-31T02:57:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T02:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/104227\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T02:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T02:57:14","slug":"owen-farrell-accused-as-lions-call-up-leaves-betrayed-boss-wanting-to-throw-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/104227\/","title":{"rendered":"Owen Farrell accused as Lions call-up leaves ‘betrayed’ boss wanting to throw up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Farrell returned to Saracens in June and was called up by the Lions in July<\/p>\n

14:15, 30 Aug 2025Updated 14:15, 30 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

\"OwenOwen Farrell played for the Lions(Image: 2025 Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Racing 92 owner Jacky Lorenzetti has launched a scathing attack on Owen Farrell<\/a>, accusing the Lions star of “lying” and saying his appearance on the summer tour of Australia left him feeling sick.<\/p>\n

Farrell left Paris in June, halfway through a two-year contract following his initial \u00a3500,000 move to the French giants a year earlier. Racing were loathe to let him go after spending so much money but eventually agreed a \u00a3225,000 fee after protracted negotiations.<\/p>\n

Lorenzetti saw that as a gesture of goodwill to a player he had defended as he struggled with injuries in an underperforming team, making just 17 appearances in total.<\/p>\n

But he was left stunned when Farrell was called up to the Lions squad the following month.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like throwing up,” he told L’Equipe<\/a><\/p>\n

“He left us saying: \u2018I\u2019m injured, I have a headache, I want to play less. Saracens are offering me this opportunity, etc.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd suddenly we find him with the Lions. It\u2019s something I don\u2019t understand. It\u2019s called lying. You have to tell it like it is. It feels good to let him go! I felt like I\u2019d been betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racing 92 owner Jacky Lorenzetti<\/p>\n

Farrell became the only player in the professional era to win two Lions Test series after being drafted in as a late squad replacement following injuries. He played in the final two Tests and was pivotal to the series-clinching win in Melbourne in the second match.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if he makes his international return for England next season after initially walking away from the Test game after the 2023 Rugby World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Owen Farrell(Image: PA Wire)<\/p>\n

Racing are now reported to be adopting a new policy in a move away from glamour signings on big money after their problems on the pitch.<\/p>\n

Former coach Stuart Lancaster, who himself left under a cloud last season, has previously pointed to something not being quite right at the club.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIn the environment I\u2019ve just left [Racing 92], without naming names, there were a group of players\u2026 it was driving me insane. You know, on good money, turning up, checking in, checking out. Happy if they\u2019re playing, happy if they\u2019re not playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t disruptive and they weren\u2019t bad people. They were all good guys. But they didn\u2019t have that desire to want to be the best they can be, and that really frustrated me at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Farrell returned to Saracens in June and was called up by the Lions in July 14:15, 30 Aug…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3481,9017,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-104227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-british-and-irish-lions","tag-owen-farrell","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}