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The Christian Wade verdict on Saracens' Owen Farrell joining Racing

Owen Farrell in action for Saracens last weekend (Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)

Christian Wade has described the reaction at Racing 92 following the confirmation that former England skipper Owen Farrell is to join them on a two-year deal.

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The 32-year-old was named on Monday as a new signing for the 2024/25 season, a move that will see the long-time Saracens talisman link up with director of rugby Stuart Lancaster, his England coach from 2012-2015.

It was earlier this month when it was first revealed that the Parisians were said to be “very close” to completing a deal for Farrell after he decided following England’s bronze medal finish at the recent Rugby World Cup that he would be taking a sabbatical from Test rugby for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations.

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That selection unavailability with England will now extend through to 2026 after Farrell opted to give life in the Top 14 a rattle with Racing rather than agree to extend his contract at Saracens.

It is quite the coup for Racing to secure the services of Farrell and Wade – who linked up with the Parisians in the summer of 2022 after his post-Wasps stint in the NFL at the Buffalo Bills came to an end – has now given his take on the appetising prospect of having the recent England skipper as his club teammate in France.

Speaking on behalf of InstantCasino.com after the news broke about the signing of Farrell, Wade said: “The place is buzzing. Owen is one of the best. I have known him for a long time since we were both capped by Stuart Lancaster.

“We have had some great fly-halves in the past at Racing like Dan Carter, Johnny Sexton and Finn Russell. Now it’s Owen and it’s great news.

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“Stuart gave me my opportunity with England and took me on the tour to South Africa (in 2012). Owen was on that tour as well and we got to know each other then. It will be brilliant to have him in the building!

“There were quite a few of us who were called up by Stuart who knew us when he oversaw the age-group sides. Stuart changed England for the better when he took over and he was starting from scratch pretty much.”

Having just qualified for an early April Investec Champions Cup round of 16 tie away to Toulouse, Racing ironically return to Top 14 fare this Sunday evening at Toulouse and Wade is predicting that Farrell will like what he sees from the Parisians in the coming months before he joins them across the Channel.

“We are doing pretty well as a team; we are top of the Top 14 table,” continued Wade. “We have had quite a few new players and a whole new management team with Stuart coming in from Leinster.

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“We are playing a different style of rugby. There is a bit more structure to it. However, there has been a huge improvement in the time that we have been together even though we have had so many changes.

“I’m enjoying it. Owen will too. Everyone is so welcoming. We are looking forward to what the rest of the season will bring. Our whole mindset is on starting to win championships.

“Stuart Lancaster is on a different level – the coaching is incredible and Owen is in for a treat. Stuart called me before he took the job at Racing just to get a feel for what it was like. In 2015, he was already a good coach and leader but now he is on a different level having helped to turn Leinster into the formidable force they are now.

“Before he went to Leinster he went round the world looking at how other sports worked and were run, including the NFL. He has picked up a load of leadership qualities to those he already had.

“I thought he was great the way he managed us with England. I was only 21 and very young. Now I am older and wiser and appreciate through my own experiences the things he has done and where he is now in his career. He is on a very different level from the past. I’m blessed and privileged to be able to work with him again.

“The coaching team is incredible and Owen is in for a treat. Frederic Michalak is our backs coach, Dimitri Szarzewski the forwards coach – both were French internationals. Ex-All Black Joe Rokocoko is the assistant backs coach and skills coach, and Yannick Nyanga is the assistant forwards coach.

“We have a phenomenal coaching staff now and Owen will love being involved with them. Racing 92 have the best coaching staff I have ever worked with.

“For me, it is the best full coaching staff I have ever been involved in. They have such experience and all have played at the highest level. To have as my backs coach someone who I watched growing up and was my hero, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

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mjp89 302 days ago

Weird backlink work from InstantCasino there.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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LONG READ
LONG READ Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat
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