“He’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with.”
Johnny Sexton has said that England star Owen Farrell would have been considered Ireland’s “greatest player” had he worn a green shirt instead of a white one.
Sexton feels that Farrell, who he played alongside for the British and Irish Lions, doesn’t get the ‘respect’ he deserves.
In an interview with The Times, ahead of the release of his autobiography Obsessed, Ireland’s record points scorer was asked who he would take to Australia next summer on the British and Irish Lions Tour.
Sexton did not hesitate with his answer and spoke glowingly about Owen Farrell, his former teammate and the son of Lions coach Andy Farrell.
“I’d pick Owen Farrell,” he said. “
“Who do you want in there when the going gets tough? Test-match animals. For me, I’d like Owen. He can do some remarkable things.
“If Owen Farrell were Irish, he’d be considered the greatest player that we’ve had.
“An amazing competitor. But for some reason he just didn’t get that [respect].
“He’s one of the best team-mates I’ve ever had. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with. It’s tough to see him not playing international rugby.
“He’s someone that should be playing international rugby still and captaining England. I have nothing but admiration for him.
“When you know him as a person, you see the real Owen Farrell.”
Sexton and Farrell became friends on the Lions tour of Australia in 2013. “It’s the best thing about the Lions,” Sexton said.
“You do have a responsibility to leave your allegiance to your country at the door. He spent a lot of time with the Irish boys.
“We used to joke about it, that he was more Irish than English.”
The England fly-half has Irish ancestry on both his father’s and mother’s side.
Not only was Owen’s old man a hugely successful player and coach, but his maternal grandfather Kieran O’Loughlin was a prominent rugby player in the 70’s and 80’s.
Owen, however, was never eligible to play for Ireland. The criteria to claim allegiance to a country comes down to whether or not your grandparent was born in Ireland.
Considering O’Loughlin was born in Wigan, albeit to Irish parents, Farrell wouldn’t have been able to play for Ireland.
The former Ireland and Leinster kicker also opened up about the heartbreak that of year’s World Cup quarter-final loss to New Zealand.
It’s clear that the disappointment of his final game for Ireland still haunts him.
“I have to try and look back on it as a journey,” he said. “If I thought about the World Cup in isolation, would I ever get over it? No. Because I fully believed we could have gone and won it.
Sexton also revealed that when Andy Farrell was appointed Lions coach, he texted the Ireland manager to see if there was a chance he would consider him for the tour.
“He just wrote back, ‘No.’ So I’d say he’s glad to see the back of having to deal with me every day.”
