Dan Biggar questions Owen Farrell's Lions call-up: ‘It doesn't really make sense'
Farrell has been summoned to join the touring party in Australia after Saracens teammate Elliot Daly fractured his forearm against the Queensland Reds.
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It is a bold call made by head coach Andy Farrell to call up his son to replace the versatile Daly, with the pair not like-for-like positionally. The Lions boss has hinted that Farrell's capacity to cover 12 is valuable to a squad short on inside centre options, though there appears to be ample cover at fly half with all of Finn Russell, Fin Smith and Marcus Smith already among the 37 players Down Under.
While the 33-year-old's competitive spirit and experience are undoubted, Farrell has not played for nine weeks and endured a difficult season at Racing 92 in the Top 14, with a number of injuries disrupting his campaign. He has not played at Test level since putting his England career on hold following the 2023 Rugby World Cup to prioritise his mental wellbeing.
Biggar toured with the Englishman on the 2017 and 2021 Lions trips and admits he was taken aback by the news.
'I have to say it seems like there's a lot of risk in this play and not a huge amount of reward," Biggar, who is working as a Sky Sports pundit in Australia during the tour, said.
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"You've got Marcus and Fin Smith. Where do they feel like they sit in the pecking order now? When they close the bedroom door and go to bed and turn the lights off at night, what are they thinking?
"Are they thinking he is coming in to replace them? There's lots of options in those positions and it just feels like it doesn't really make sense and I think everybody is saying the same thing.
'I'm struggling to get to grips with the sense of it. No one's doubting that Owen is an amazing character, an amazing player in the career he's had. But he hasn't played Test rugby for over two years, hasn't played any form of rugby for the last couple of months and the person he's replacing [Daly], he doesn't play any of the same positions.'
Fin Smith will start for the Lions at fly half against the Waratahs on Saturday as the Lions continue their preparations for the three-Test series against the Wallabies. Farrell's call-up means that he is set to feature on a fourth tour, with the playmaker expected to be available to feature against the Brumbies in Canberra on Wednesday if selected.
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But this is not a price hike for those who buy for the first time, as they are only eligible after renewals close. All other Premier League clubs do not charge a fee for their payment plan options. Most clubs have moved to a digital-first or digital-only approach. This is the direction of travel, initiated by the Premier League, which stipulated that it will be mandatory — 70 per cent of all tickets must be delivered digitally — by the start of the 2026-27 season. Newly promoted clubs will have two years to implement its use. Clubs must provide reasonable adjustments for fans who, through disability, are unable to use digital ticketing, meaning a small subset of supporters will still use physical or e-tickets, but many face the hurdle of an application process. Environmental concerns are occasionally cited, but more prominently, the Premier League and its clubs argue the shift to digital ticketing is to better determine who is in the ground and reduce touting. When approached by The Athletic, the Premier League offered no hard evidence that touting has been reduced by digital ticketing. However, it says it is reviewing support for clubs' anti-touting operations. It says physical tickets are easy to sell on, while print-at-home tickets with barcodes can be printed multiple times and sold to people who then can't access a stadium. The Premier League points out rotating or hidden barcodes mean digital tickets can't be screenshotted and sold multiple times, as they must be refreshed before going into the stadium. The direction of travel with season tickets is clear. Clubs continue to find ways to maximise revenue at the cost of matchgoing supporters. Changes to pricing structures this year have been minimal and far less controversial, but more clubs have introduced minimum attendance rules and sought to make their offerings more attractive without pricing supporters out completely. For a small but important section of season ticket holders, digital ticketing is a major concern. Supporters will question whether there is a genuine need to increase prices, but clubs seem destined to keep finding ways to raise more income from match-going supporters.
