Owen Farrell set to return to international rugby in 2025 – no policy to prevent it

about his ongoing rivalry with Owen Farrell.

The star player, renowned for his prowess on the field, has made the difficult decision to take a step back for the sake of his mental health. Saracens, his faithful club, broke the news in December, emphasising Farrell's commitment to prioritising his and his family's well-being.

In a statement dripping with concern and support, Saracens declared, "This means he will not be available for the 2024 Six Nations. He will continue to play for Saracens and captain the club. As always, Owen will have the full support of everyone at the club."

However, while Saracens stand firmly by their captain, Farrell's journey takes an unexpected turn with a lucrative two-year deal with Racing 92 looming on the horizon.

Regrettably for England supporters, Farrell's venture abroad at the end of the season renders him unavailable for national duty until at least 2026, adhering to the RFU's stringent policy barring overseas players.

Nevertheless, a glimmer of hope remains for the faithful as the British & Irish Lions have expressed openness to including Farrell in their roster, despite his offshore commitments.

"We don’t have a policy that closes off anyone from being selected," assured chief executive Ben Calveley.

"If you just look at previous Lions tours, we’ve had people come on a tour who haven’t been playing for a national side."

With uncertainty clouding Farrell's future and the anticipation of what's to come, one thing remains crystal clear: the English faithful will have to wait a while longer to witness their skipper don the iconic white jersey.

The Scotland back-rower was the instigator in some tunnel argy-bargy when the players returned to the changing rooms after the warm-up back in 2018 with Farrell at the centre.

Footage of the incident shows all hell breaking loose when Farrell barged his way past a number of Scotland players to confront Wilson, who had been attempting to get inside the head of George Ford.

Remembering the incident, Marler said: "It's become an incredibly hostile rivalry (England and Scotland) and I love it. The niggle goes back to the night in 2018 when Ryan Wilson picked on George Ford in the tunnel.

"Unfortunately, I was plodding back with a belly full of cheese toastie so I was nowhere near to intervene when Wilson started dishing it out in his thick Scottish-Surrey accent."

Wilson later revealed he was banned from Twickenham following the incident.

“I remember that game, I was actually injured and after tunnel-gate, after everything that happened in the tunnel against England, I’d lined up a corporate gig at Twickenham,” he recalled to Rugby Pass in November.

“Had it all lined up, a little bit of cash, all excited, only to get a message back saying the RFU have banned you from Twickenham Stadium after everything that happened the year before."

Former England lock Attwood has opened up on the latest RugbyPass Offload

The Bath lock won the last of his 24 caps for England back in 2016, which could have a lot to do with his relationship with the current England captain.

He revealed: "On the pitch, I struggle a lot with Owen Farrell. We just don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things,

“He hates me with a passion. Despite my earthy roots, he thinks I am a posh c***. He hates that. I bagged rugby league once jovially. I was saying it to take the piss kind of thing, ‘a bloody sport for the peasants’. He f**kin’ hated it."

"He had a bit of a shout at me and went off to the toilet and I followed him.

“We all had a drink or two after the game but we didn’t need to get carried away with this. I was in the urinal behind the door and he was three or four down and as I got in his dad walked in as well, he was coaching at the time. He was, ‘I don’t want to fuckin’ hear it’ or something like that and as he walked out he went to open the door and slam it into the back of me. There was like a stop on the floor so it hit the stop and almost clocked him back…

“We never really addressed it after that. That was where it started and it was like a drunken little bit of argy that went too far. He is an incredibly competitive athlete and he is also very f**kin’ good, he has got high standards. He is a very competitive athlete and in order to be that good, you have to flirt on the wrong side of competitive.

“So whenever we play each other there is always some element in the game where one of us is running at the other one or we are trying to bang each other. There always seems to be an element of that to it. I am sure he is like, I don’t even know that Dave is playing.”

The pair have what we can only describe as a love-hate relationship. As legendary as the 'best mates' videos were during the 2016 tour of Australia, Farrell certainly didn't seem to be enjoying it.

Farrell and De Klerk ended up at arm’s length from each other in 2018 during their summer tour just before the 20-minute mark and the rest of the two sides quickly joined in.

The pair have since clashes on multiple occasions, including during the World Cup final a year later. Klerk is clearly someone who gets under the England skippers skin and their appears to be little love lost between the pair.

Speaking about the pair, Tom Curry said they are 'very different characters'.

This extraordinary feat is as scarce as they come, with only 20 players accomplishing the remarkable three-try milestone since the Championship expanded to six nations in 2000.

Notably, a couple of players have even pulled off this astonishing feat twice, adding an extra layer of prestige to their rugby prowess.

Now, take a moment to rewind and test your memory. Can you recall the names of these exceptional hat-trick heroes?

If you manage a perfect score, you'll undoubtedly be entitled to a celebration on par with the jubilant antics witnessed by some of the stars on this illustrious list.