No form, but Owen Farrell picked to drive Lions standards like no other

Times

a day ago

Surprise, surprise! Owen Farrell is en route to join the British & Irish Lions; a development that has been trailed from the moment he was omitted from the original squad on fitness grounds. When coaches out here in Australia are talking privately about what Farrell could add to this squad, it felt inevitable that the former England captain would be parachuted in to join his fourth Lions tour.
The trigger for Farrell's call-up was the fractured arm sustained by Elliot Daly in a cruel twist of fate during the Lions' 52-12 victory over Queensland Reds on Wednesday. Daly was not supposed to be playing, but he answered the call after Hugo Keenan fell ill and is now heading home, his arm in a cast. Daly's final act on tour was to announce to the players the team for Saturday's game against NSW Waratahs.
Heading in the opposite direction, and bound for a fourth Lions tour, is his club-mate Farrell, a selection made on faith, not form; experience, not evidence. In performance terms, it defies logic. Farrell barely played for Racing 92 last season because of a groin operation and then concussion, from which he has not yet received the official all-clear. The former England captain has not played Test rugby in 20 months, since stepping back after the 2023 World Cup in order to prioritise his mental health.
But the Lions coaching staff are prepared to overlook the fact that Farrell has no recent body of work and to trust that his experience gleaned from a 112-cap Test career, his rugby intelligence and his leadership, will enhance the squad. It is quite the leap of faith. No other player in the home nations would receive a Lions call-up in these circumstances.
The same could have been said in 2021 of Alun Wyn Jones, who was recalled to the Lions tour three weeks after suffering a dislocated shoulder in the opening game of the campaign. Some people just operate by different rules. Farrell will join Jones in the elite club of Lions to have been on four tours, alongside Willie John McBride, Brian O'Driscoll and Mike Gibson.
'He should be proud of himself,' Andy Farrell, the Lions head coach, said. 'But it's the here and now that matters.'
Multiple sources told The Times that Owen Farrell would have been in the original 38-man squad had he not been injured at the time of the announcement, because he has multiple acolytes among the coaching staff.
Farrell forged a close relationship with Johnny Sexton, now a Lions assistant coach, on the 2013 and 2017 tours. Last November, before he took up his role with the Lions, Sexton told The Times that Farrell would be his Test fly half.
'If Owen Farrell was Irish, he'd be considered the greatest player that we've had,' Sexton said. 'An amazing competitor. He's one of the best team-mates I've ever had. He's one of the best players I've ever played with. It's tough to see him not playing international rugby. He's someone that should be playing international rugby still and captaining England. I have nothing but admiration for him. When you know him as a person, you see the real Owen Farrell.'
Farrell won multiple Premiership and European titles at Saracens alongside Richard Wigglesworth, also a Lions assistant coach. And nobody understands his winning mentality and desire to drive standards better than his father, Andy, the Lions head coach, because it is a quality they share.
So, to that extent it is no surprise at all that Farrell is heading down under. And yet many are stunned by the decision. For example, a Welshman, working as a hotel receptionist in Sydney, reacted to the news with a series of expletives. Safe to say, he was not impressed. And he was not alone.
Dan Biggar, the Lions Test fly half in 2021, struggled to comprehend the decision. Others in the game described it as appalling, questioned whether he was good enough any more to compete at the highest level, or saw the whole thing as a needless distraction that could disrupt the balance of the squad.
How will Finn Russell, who finally gets the chance to be the Lions Test fly half, and Fin Smith respond to this new competition, having spent a combined total of six weeks working on shaping the attack? If Marcus Smith did not already know his place within this squad, then he does now.
So why risk the disruption and the distraction? Why is Owen Farrell flying to Sydney instead of George Ford, who will win his 100th England cap in Argentina on Saturday and is now destined to never be a Lion. Why not turn to a player of similar positional versatility to Daly, such as Scotland's Tom Jordan?
The first clue that something was afoot came in the post-match press conference on Wednesday, when Andy Farrell was asked about his options at No15 without Daly, who had been the form candidate on the tour. 'We have plenty of full backs,' he said. Keenan and Blair Kinghorn both make their first tour appearances on Saturday, but they can comfortably slot into the role. Plus Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman, Huw Jones and Mack Hansen can fill in.
What is harder to replace is Daly's experience as a three-tour Lion, who had played in 18 of a possible 22 games in New Zealand (2017), South Africa (2021) and Australia. Maro Itoje and Tadhg Furlong are the only Lions in this squad who would have experienced the challenges of a proper tour, having also been in New Zealand in 2017. 'He [Daly] knows how it is and what it's like to tour,' Andy Farrell said.
So too does Owen Farrell. Only Alun Wyn Jones, Matt Dawson and Mako Vunipola have played more Lions games in the professional era. Sexton's comment about Owen Farrell's qualities as a team-mate also came racing to mind — because they chime exactly with a theme that Andy Farrell has been striking on this tour, in multiple addresses to his players.
'If we get competition for places like we know we can, and if we team that with being the best team-mates we possibly can be, we are in for a hell of a ride,' Andy Farrell said.
Owen Farrell will tick both of those boxes. He has been brought to Australia predominantly as an inside centre, the position he played for two Tests on the 2017 Lions tour. His ability to also play fly half has the potential to immediately change the dynamic of the selection conversation.
Instead of selecting three specialists on the bench — such as Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith and Bundee Aki — the Lions could cover more bases with Mitchell, Farrell and a Freeman or Hansen. All of that, of course, is predicated on the assumption that Farrell is fit enough to play. He needs to complete the contact elements of the concussion return protocols to play when he lands.
'We are a little bit vulnerable in and around the No12 position and obviously Owen can play No10 as well. He's the right man at this moment in time for us,' Farrell Sr said.
'If he didn't have a chance of the Test, then what is the point? The experience Owen brings, the support that you need for the group and how you make the room feel. We have said from minute one that the only thing we want is competition.
'I understand all the questions. I know the players on the inside, their characters. You're talking about the No10s [and how they might react]. They're great characters, professionals, people and understand what it is to be a great team-mate on a tour like this.'
Farrell Sr had the unique honour of calling Owen to invite him on the Lions tour after a turbulent couple of years, during which he was abused on social media, booed at the World Cup and relocated to Paris in a club move to escape England that didn't really work out. It is quite the comeback.
They would have both known how this selection would kick up a storm. But Farrell Jr did not hesitate in accepting the opportunity; indeed, he had been in regular touch with the Lions medics over his fitness.
'He didn't cry like Finlay Bealham did [at his call-up],' Andy Farrell said. 'The timing had to be right for him. We feel that the timing is right now and that we can all move on and push on, not just with Owen's career, but what we're trying to achieve here with the Lions. We see him adding to the group and injecting a bit of life and experience into the squad.'
Waratahs v British & Irish Lions
Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Saturday, 11am
TV Sky Sports Main Event