{"id":784006,"date":"2026-09-27T06:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T06:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/784006\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T06:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T06:38:14","slug":"owen-farrell-gives-blunt-response-when-asked-about-switching-england-for-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/784006\/","title":{"rendered":"Owen Farrell gives blunt response when asked about switching England for Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Owen Farrell has already given a very clear response when asked whether he would ever consider swapping England for Ireland.<\/p>\n

The former England captain has a strong connection to Irish rugby.<\/p>\n

His father, Andy Farrell, has enjoyed huge success as Ireland head coach, while Owen also has Irish ancestry through his mother\u2019s side of the family.<\/p>\n

That has led to one question popping up more than once: could Farrell ever pull on the green jersey himself?<\/p>\n

Farrell, though, has shown little interest in the idea.<\/p>\n

When previously asked whether he would consider representing Ireland, his response was just two words:<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could Owen Farrell actually play for Ireland?<\/p>\n

Despite the family connection, Farrell is not currently eligible to represent Ireland.<\/p>\n

Under World Rugby\u2019s Regulation 8<\/a>, a player who has already represented one country can switch allegiance in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n

They must have gone at least three years without representing their original nation.<\/p>\n

However, there is another important requirement.<\/p>\n

\"Owen<\/p>\n

Owen Farrell, Captain of England during the Six Nations Match between England and Italy at Twickenham, London on 12 Feb 2023 (Photo: Tom Sandberg\/PPAUK)<\/p>\n

The player must qualify for their new country through their own birthplace, or through a parent or grandparent who was born there.<\/p>\n

That is where Farrell falls short.<\/p>\n

His mother is Colleen O\u2019Loughlin, while his maternal grandfather, former rugby league player Kieran O\u2019Loughlin, was born in Wigan.<\/p>\n

Farrell\u2019s Irish roots stretch further back in the family tree, so they do not meet World Rugby\u2019s parent-or-grandparent requirement.<\/p>\n

Ireland claim went viral<\/p>\n

The subject resurfaced when a social media post claimed Farrell could become Ireland-qualified after completing a three-year international stand-down.<\/p>\n

The claim quickly gained traction and sparked plenty of debate among rugby supporters.<\/p>\n

However, as RUCK explained when the claim emerged<\/a>, completing the three-year stand-down is only part of the process.<\/p>\n

Farrell won 112 caps for England and last represented his country at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

But even after three years away from Test rugby, his ancestry would still prevent a switch to Ireland under the current rules.<\/p>\n

Judging by Farrell\u2019s own response, it is not something he is interested in anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Owen Farrell has already given a very clear response when asked whether he would ever consider swapping England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[256414,258346,5903,118921,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-784006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england-rugby-news","tag-ireland-rugby-news","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784006","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=784006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}