One of the most striking aspects of Andy Farrell is that he remains a physically imposing man – even when he is sitting down.

As a chubby 10-year-old, Andy Farrell was on a rugby league team who were collected for training in a clapped-out minibus driven by their Orrell St James coach. Cannily, this meant the boys had no ...

“I’m judged every day by my accent,” says Andy Farrell, in that distinctive Wigan inflection, neither Lancastrian nor Mancunian but a sound all its own. He concedes, too, that there was once a time ...