FARRELL - AT THE DOUBLE
THE 2025 LIONS' TOUR OF AUSTRALIA
ENTER OWEN FARRELL FOR HIS FOURTH LIONS’ TOUR AS DAD’S CHOICE TO REPLACE OWEN’S FELLOW SARACEN, ELLIOT DALY. TO PUT IT MILDLY, IT’S A DECISION THAT HAS POLARISED OPINION …
Last Tuesday morning in Brisbane, there were two Welshmen on this Lions’ tour and one Farrell. By Friday evening in Sydney, it was the other way round. Life comes at you quickly, not least in this environment. So, as the luckless Elliot Daly slips through Departures with only his boarding pass for company, Owen Farrell rocks up in Arrivals in a blizzard of flash bulbs, a call-up which, simultaneously, was an astonishment and yet no surprise whatsoever. If you like, Schrödinger’s Faz.
So, is this the ballsiest call of Dad’s, distinguished coaching career or just stone-cold common-sense? Again, both could be true. The reaction, though, has been binary; not since the invention of Marmite has opinion been quite so sharply divided. Certainly, the social media morons are in a tailspin, given they’ve now got to abandon their vendetta against Henry Pollock and switch back to Owen Farrell. I guess this is trolling’s great occupational hazard; so little time; so many people to hate.
But those who know Owen Farrell well - not least fellow players - appear to have no issues here. Danny Care described the call as a ‘masterstroke’; Tadhg Bierne said Farrell was ‘serious quality … a boost for the squad’. I could go on ad infinitum. The dissenting voices - at least the dissenting public voices - are all external; enraged members of the rugby commentariat - ‘on form, the selection is a joke,’ wrote Stuart Barnes in The Times - to the aforementioned trolls on social media - ‘nepotism … a stinking decision’ - and, my personal favourite; ‘crazy … perhaps he’s a good singer?’
Certainly, those looking for an obvious train of logic here are going to be sorely disappointed. Farrell’s no one’s idea of a like-for-like replacement for the uniquely versatile Daly nor is he in any kind of form given his wretched year in Paris; in that sense, Stuart Barnes is spot on. The Lions also look well-stacked in the 10/12 department and if you add up that lot, you’re scratching your head.
Which leaves us with the thought that what Father Farrell wants is something more intangible; a bit more bite in the camp; more edge; more intensity; more snarl. No one’s suggesting these Lions are pussy-cats but, perhaps, the Head Coach feels the parade ground needs another be-medalled, sergeant-major who, by sheer force of personality and example, can drive standards higher. In which case, he’s probably got the ideal man.
Andy Farrell’s clearly been stewing on this since the Argentina performance, which, in the immediate aftermath, he described as ‘unacceptable’. He was talking attitude. The Lions have been slow starters so far in Australia and, at times, too sloppy, both of which have irked the Head Coach. Given the option, you suspect he’d cheerfully pick himself to get out on the paddocks and pitches and sort it out but since Farrell A isn’t really viable, Farrell O appears - to Dad at least - to be the perfect alternative. You can see the thinking.
And if all this sounds like ‘nepotism’, then (a) you don’t know Andy Farrell and (b) you don’t know how Lions’ selection works, given the decision would’ve been signed off by the entire coaching staff. Farrell ain’t Trump and his coaches ain’t Trump’s Cabinet. This would’ve been rigorously discussed and unanimously agreed. ‘It’s the experience he brings,’ said the Head Coach, ‘the support that you need for the group and how you make the room feel.’
The rumour mill suggests the coaches - all of them - were in favour of Owen Farrell right from the start and for the precise reason they’re in favour of him now. A young squad needs all the experience and grizzle it can get. The same rumour mill also suggests - and I’ve no idea whether this is true - that it was Owen who, initially, wasn’t sure, understandably perhaps given his form and the distraction - at the time - of sorting out the reverse ferret from Paris to London.
No question, it’ll be fascinating to hear what he has to say once he meets his first microphone and, if the Lions are smart, they’ll get him in front of the media corps asap, cover it off and move on. Certainly, Steve Borthwick’s reasoning for not considering him for the England tour of Argentina was that; ‘Owen has been on record saying he just wants to get back playing and get settled with his family back in Hertfordshire, and we wish him all the best with that.’ Clearly, something’s changed.
But this volte-face - if that’s what it is - will demand very, very careful managing, given there are several Lions’ noses which might now feel out-of-joint. The Head Coach will need to sell this to his squad and, specifically, to his leadership group; a tricky conversation given the implicit suggestion there’s not enough bite and standards need driving higher.
And then there’s Owen himself. Not since the Fijian Sevens’ wizard Waisale Serevi signed for Leicester and turned up for a game of pre-season touch, will one bloke be the subject of quite so many eyes at his first training session. But Farrell - certainly the older, wiser Farrell - is far too smart a cookie to blaze in and starting chucking his weight around. Like his father, he fully understands the team dynamic and, you suspect, will both buy into it and boost it at one and same time.
Is he a live contender for the Tests? Why not? Everyone else is. But, that said, he’s got a hefty playbook to learn and some serious match fitness and form to find in an indecent hurry; he’s not played Test rugby for two years or any rugby for the past two months. The back end of the series is a possibility; the front end is a serious stretch. But it’s what he can offer the college ethos that’s more important. He may not win the series for the Lions personally but if he can help others to do so, he’ll have done his job.
As will his father. What’s hugely reassuring is that the Lions have a Head Coach who emphatically does not, as Tony Blair once said of William Hague, ‘have his opinions delivered to him by the paper-boy.’ Bugger social media. Twelve years ago, in this very country and on this very tour, Warren Gatland made a call on Brian O’Driscoll that enflamed opinion. It worked out then; every true Lions’ supporter, whether they agree with this decision or not, will be hoping this one works out now.
