Andy Farrell married an England rugby legend’s sister after they became parents aged 16

Rugby News
Tuesday, 15 September 2026 at 15:00
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Andy Farrell and his wife Colleen became parents when they were just 16 – before marrying and building a family with rugby connections on both sides.
Their eldest son Owen became an England captain and British & Irish Lion. However, Colleen also has a famous rugby sibling of her own.
She is the older sister of Sean O’Loughlin, the former Wigan Warriors and England rugby league captain.
That makes O’Loughlin Andy’s brother-in-law and Owen’s uncle, linking two of Wigan’s most recognisable sporting families.

Childhood sweethearts

Andy and Colleen welcomed Owen in September 1991, when both were 16.
It was a significant year for Andy, who also made his senior Wigan debut that November as his professional rugby career began.
The childhood sweethearts married in 1995 and went on to have four children together, as outlined in The Irish Sun’s family profile.
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Andy Farrell with his wife Colleen, the sister of former England rugby league captain Sean O’Loughlin.

An England legend in the family

Colleen’s younger brother Sean O’Loughlin made his Wigan debut in 2002, seven years after the couple married.
He subsequently played alongside Andy before establishing himself as a club great in his own right.
The loose forward made 458 Wigan appearances during a career spent entirely with the Warriors, winning four Super League Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups and a World Club Challenge.
He also captained England and represented Great Britain before retiring in 2020.

Meet Andy and Colleen Farrell’s four children

Owen Farrell

Born in September 1991, Owen is the eldest of the four siblings.
He followed his father into professional rugby, becoming an England captain and British & Irish Lion, with a club career that has included Saracens and Racing 92.
His father played international rugby in both codes, while his maternal uncle Sean captained England in rugby league.

Elleshia Farrell

Elleshia is one of Andy and Colleen’s two daughters.
She was pictured alongside Colleen and younger brother Gabriel celebrating with Andy after Ireland secured the 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam. She has largely remained outside the public sporting spotlight.

Gracie Farrell

Gracie is Andy and Colleen’s other daughter and Owen’s younger sister.
She maintains a comparatively private life, with limited publicly reported information about her career and interests.
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Gabriel Farrell

Gabriel is the youngest of Andy and Colleen’s four children and is following his father and older brother into rugby.
He plays schools rugby for Blackrock College in Dublin and was named in the school’s 2026 Junior Cup leadership team, supporting captain Adam Nutley alongside Felix Burke.
The appointment, confirmed by Blackrock College, marks another step in his own rugby development as the youngest Farrell begins making his mark.
Have your say: Did you know Andy Farrell and Sean O’Loughlin were brothers-in-law?

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