Racing 92 owner Jacky Lorenzetti has taken a swipe at Owen Farrell following the England great’s first-season struggles at the Top 14 giants.
The 33-year-old joined the Parisians on a two-year deal – with the option of a third – from Saracens at the start of the 2024/25 campaign, but injury has disrupted his time there.
Farrell missed over two months of action, between the start of November and mid-January, but returned to face the Stormers in the Champions Cup.
He was then named in the XV to take on Castres a week later but Lorenzetti was critical of his performance, stating the fly-half “played at the speed of a snail going backwards.”
Siya Kolisi criticism
It is not quite on the level of Siya Kolisi, who the owner last year claimed “gained weight, lost shape and was transparent”, but it is a comment which Farrell may not appreciate.
“Owen had an adductor injury when he arrived, which was bothering him considerably. We also made the mistake of putting him on the pitch too early,” Racing’s owner told Midi Olympique.
“Against the Stormers in the Champions Cup, he was very good. Then the pain came back against Castres, he was weakened and played at the speed of a snail going backwards.
“On the field, we haven’t seen the real Farrell. However, day-to-day we can count on an incredible leader, who loves the club and wants to win.”
It has been a tough season for Farrell but it has not been helped by the Paris outfit’s struggles, who are in a fight for survival domestically and sacked head coach Stuart Lancaster.
The playmaker has also been linked with Racing’s exit door but, according to reports, he is determined to see out the rest of his contract.
“Before leaving, Stuart Lancaster asked each player to rate their team-mates. Farrell came out on top on all the rating criteria despite having barely played. He’s a great rugby man, Owen,” Lorenzetti added.
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The Parisians currently reside in 12th position in the Top 14 table, just six points above bottom-placed Vannes, and as a result, Lorenzetti felt he had no other option but to sack Lancaster.
‘Avoiding a catastrophe’
“I watched the game [against Castres], we had no game plan,” he said. “It was despair. We had to react to avoid a catastrophe.
“It didn’t work. Since the Hundred Years’ War, the English have been our worst friends or our best enemies, I don’t know… but it didn’t work.
“That doesn’t call into question the fact that Stuart is a great technician and a hard worker. He was there every morning at 5:30.
“The cohesion that a team needs, it did not exist with us recently. Also, Stuart perhaps did not learn French quickly enough and, around that, everything had difficulty taking. So we left by mutual agreement.
There was also a concern from Lorenzetti that they were losing their identity with Farrell and Lancaster adding to the number of English speakers at the club.
“It was part of the things that made my decision to sack Lancaster, I didn’t want to alter the image of Racing,” he said.
“In recent months when I would drink my morning coffee in the clubhouse as I usually do, people only spoke ‘British’ around.
“I speak a little English but I am not ‘fluent’. It is also a handicap in my business. So there was often a translator between us and it did not help to build a relationship.”
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The post Owen Farrell gets Kolisi treatment from Racing 92: ‘Snail going backwards’ : Planet Rugby first appeared on Rugby 247.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-03-06 21:52:41
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