Former England captain Farrell named for Lions tour match against AUNZ
Lions head coach Andy Farrell brought son Owen into the squad last week following Elliot Daly's broken arm, which ruled the versatile back out of the three-match test series against the Wallabies.
Though boasting 118 England caps and three previous Lions tours, the 33-year-old playmaker's inclusion was polarising given he has not played a test since 2023 and is coming off an injury-plagued season in French club rugby.
Andy Farrell, who defended Owen's inclusion last week, said on Thursday his son was no different to other teammates in needing to catch up fast to the Lions' playbook.
"He's the same as everyone else who's had to get up to speed pretty quickly," Farrell told a press conference in Adelaide on Thursday.
"Everyone had to at the start and a few have come in since. I think the art of this stage of the tour is mentally being as switched on as you possibly can.
"There's not that much training that you can do. We're at a captain's run tomorrow and that's the preparation for this game."
With only a couple of days' break following the laboured 36-24 win over the ACT Brumbies, Farrell has overhauled his squad while retaining a few players from Canberra.
Winger Mack Hansen and loose forward Henry Pollock, who each played off the bench against the Brumbies, were included in the starting 15.
England playmaker Marcus Smith has also been retained on the bench after replacing injured fullback Blair Kinghorn when he came off in the first half in Canberra with knee trouble.
Farrell said he was hoping for good news on Kinghorn ahead of the first Wallabies test in Brisbane on July 19.
"Whether it's going to be long term or shortish term, I don't think it's as bad as what could have been," he added.
"It was something innocuous, really. Just a rugby accident that was unfortunate."
Hugo Keenan will start in the number 15 jersey in Kinghorn's place in Adelaide, with lock Tadhg Beirne to captain the side as Maro Itoje is rested.
Farrell's team will face 14 test players in the AUNZ line-up coached by Les Kiss at Adelaide Oval, their final run-out before the Wallabies.
"As a unit, how they gel together, there's a little bit of unknown there," Farrell said of their opponents.
15-Hugo Keenan, 14-Mack Hansen, 13-Huw Jones, 12-Sione Tuipulotu, 11-Duhan van der Merwe, 10-Fin Smith, 9-Ben White, 8-Ben Earl, 7-Jac Morgan, 6-Henry Pollock, 5-Tadhg Beirne (capt), 4-James Ryan, 3-Will Stuart, 2-Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1-Pierre Schoeman
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