Andy Farrell gathered his newly appointed British & Irish Lions coaches at the upmarket Rosewood hotel in London on Monday. They spent most of Tuesday chewing the fat, then sunk their teeth into a steak dinner at Hawksmoor restaurant. Bread was broken, the next significant signpost towards the summer tour of Australia ticked off.
If there were no major surprises on his coaching staff – three from Ireland and one each from Scotland and England – it felt telling that while you could make a pretty good guess, no one has yet been assigned specific roles. Farrell wants his staff to work in harness rather than worry about precise remits in isolation, to build cohesion rather than concern themselves with detail just yet.
Equally telling was the fact that on day one, the coaches put together a long list of about 75 players in contention for selection when Farrell makes the final call on 8 May. No one was off limits – players based in France, significantly those from England who are seen as unavailable for their national team, will be considered and oh to be a fly on the wall when Owen Farrell came up for discussion.
Like it or not, until the final squad is announced, the subject of Owen Farrell’s potential inclusion is the most dominant narrative surrounding this summer’s tour. The coach’s son, a former England captain made a pariah after the last World Cup, his country’s record points scorer, a born winner, a three-time Lion, an experienced fly‑half in a field full of greenhorns, perhaps the most polarising figure in the English game.
Farrell Jr has endured a difficult first season at Racing 92 in the French Top 14. Stuart Lancaster has been sacked by Racing, such have been their travails, and Farrell has not been helped by a groin injury from which he has just recovered. Those close to him, those who have played with him before, worry that such has been his gruelling workload, nearly 17 years after breaking through at Saracens, that his body is creaking.
The Racing owner, Jacky Lorenzetti, who is never shy of voicing his opinion, described him earlier this season as playing “at the speed of a snail going backwards”, though he did add: “On the field, we haven’t seen the real Farrell. However, day to day we can count on an incredible leader, who loves the club and wants to win.”
And listen to Andy Farrell describe what he is looking for in his captain for this summer’s Lions tour of Australia and it was hard not to alight on the elephant in the room.
“He’s got to be highly respected within the group, and a person that’s more than comfortable being himself within that, and is able to do that,” he said.
“Obviously he’s got to have the respect, not just as a player, not just as a leader within the changing room, but a leader in the way that he handles himself in the entirety of what a Lions captain should be.”
As much as Maro Itoje and Caelan Doris can be considered frontrunners, there is little doubting that Farrell Jr ticks the above boxes. Listen to players from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, those who did not know him well before touring with him, talk about Farrell’s influence on previous Lions tours and they are unequivocally glowing.
Warren Gatland, head coach for the three tours on which Owen Farrell has appeared, has been equally effusive and though it was the player’s decision to step away from England duty – a decision made before his move to France – he has admitted this season that it would be “massive” to make a fourth tour.
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The fly‑half candidates include Finn Russell – who played the last 70 minutes of the most recent Lions Test in 2021 – and then a wealth of bright young things. From England, the Smiths Fin and Marcus can be considered in contention, the Ireland duo of Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley, too. Perhaps at the age of 32 there is finally a place on a Lions tour for George Ford but the argument for including someone of Farrell’s experience is obvious. Equally, with Sione Tuipulotu still recovering from a chest injury, there is no outstanding candidate at inside-centre.
Suddenly, the arguments for Farrell’s inclusion become obvious but when asked specifically about whether his son was in the frame, there was evidently a degree of awkwardness, a keenness to move swiftly on. “Same as everyone else. He’s just coming back from injury. You keep an eye on everything, and him like every other player as well, so yeah.”
Farrell Sr is his own man. He gave an articulate, compelling answer when asked whether he might feel the need to pick any Welsh players purely on the basis of satisfying quotas – short answer, no – and will not worry about upsetting anyone if he feels Owen warrants his place in the squad.
Equally, he is a father and when the backlash to Owen’s red card for a high tackle during a 2023 World Cup warmup game reached fever pitch, Andy’s reaction was scathing: “The circus that has gone around all of this is absolutely disgusting, in my opinion.”
It was one of the rare occasions that the curtain was pulled back on a relationship that has been so outwardly professional for so many years. Farrell Sr unashamedly paternal, protective, with junior cast in a light of vulnerability when so often he has come across as bulletproof. It is a relationship that fascinates and, as a result, so too does his potential selection this summer.