Rugby-Farrell resigns as Saracens coach

LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - Andy Farrell has resigned as Saracens coach just a month and a half after turning down a job as England backs coach to stay with the Premiership club.

"We are sorry to see Andy leave and we wish him well in the future," Saracen's chairman Nigel Wray said on the English club's website (www.saracens.com) on Friday.

Farrell was interim backs coach in England boss Stuart Lancaster's staff during the last Six Nations tournament but said in April he had decided to remain at Saracens for the foreseeable future.

The 36-year-old former rugby league and union international, and father of England player Owen Farrell, had been widely tipped to become part of England's permanent regime and his resignation could now re-open that door.

England's three-test tour of South Africa starts in Durban on June 9. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Mark Meadows)