Why the Lions must call up Owen Farrell and Jamie George

Telegraph

18-05-2025

Bonhomie and bonding were in abundance as the British and Irish Lions squad gathered for the first time in Richmond for what is traditionally known as 'Messy Monday' when playing kits are distributed and tailors are on hand to measure each player for their tour suit.
Yet what was noticeably in short supply was touring experience. Of the 38 picked by head coach Andy Farrell, only three – the captain Maro Itoje, his Saracens team-mate Elliot Daly and Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong – are survivors from the last proper Lions tour to New Zealand in 2017.
Farrell has selected 26 first-timers and nine for which this is their second tour. But because of the Covid restrictions at the time, the 2021 tour of South Africa did not remotely resemble the travelling and match-schedule challenges that will face Farrell's squad in Australia.
In contrast, the selection of Warren Gatland's 41-strong squad for the 2017 tour included 13 players who had experienced a traditional tour before, and two – Alun Wyn Jones and Leigh Halfpenny – who were on their third.
The 2021 tour saw the players based in Johannesburg for three matches, against the Lions at Ellis Park and then two games against the Sharks, at Ellis Park and Loftus Versfeld. The remaining five games were played in Cape Town, with the squad based in Arabella Country Estate, a golf and country club located about 60 miles away.
On previous tours, that would have been offset by the fact that players would have been used to playing midweek games on summer Test series with their national sides, but professionalism and the ever tightening of the global season have largely done away with those.
You have to go back to 2014 for the last time England played a midweek fixture, against Crusaders, on their three-Test tour of New Zealand, while Wales played against the Chiefs during their three-Test tour against the All Blacks in 2016.
The last home union to properly embrace the touring concept was Ireland in 2022, when Farrell deliberately requested two midweek fixtures against the Maori ahead of the first and third Tests – five games in 16 days – to stress-test his squad ahead of the World Cup in France the following year.
Ireland lost the first game against the Maori and the first Test against the All Blacks but then recovered to finish the tour with three successive victories to win the series 2-1. James Lowe, one of the 15 Ireland players in Farrell's squad, is one of the Lions debutants, but at least he has experienced the workload and upheaval of that tour three years ago.
'We went to the third Test wanting to win and knowing that we could win and then to be able to deliver it was awesome,' said Lowe. 'The week was curated for that. The boys were shagged. It was tough. We started in Auckland, we had to drive down to Hamilton to play a game, then back to Auckland. We were training on the North Shore, which is about an hour away, and then took two flights down to Dunedin and then on to Wellington. Logistically, it was very tough but we went in after the first Test with so much confidence knowing that we could do a job and fortunately we could.'
Jamison Gibson-Park, another Lions debutant, was on that 2022 tour with Lowe. 'There were all sorts of things going on, but we just embraced it and got stuck in,' he said.
'Lions tours have jam-packed schedules; it is not an easy thing to do but you have to be ready for anything. Faz [Andy Farrell] will always have you ready for anything that comes on the horizon. That is the attitude that you must have. You have to knuckle down and make do.'
Which brings us to the positions that have been left open for Farrell to select before the tour departs to Australia next month. On this criterion alone, it makes absolute sense for the Lions head coach to turn to two former England captains: his son Owen and hooker Jamie George.
If Farrell junior can find his form after an injury-affected season with Racing, his selection would make him the most experienced tourist as a veteran of the 2013, 2017 and 2021 tours. He and George, who toured in 2017 and 2021, would bring the hard-edged Lions nous and leadership that this squad is missing.
On top of that, Owen would bolster fly-half and inside centre options as well as place-kicking, while George would be extra cover at hooker to ease the burden on the other three players in the specialist position.
Farrell senior's coaching group is also light on Lions touring experience, with only Simon Easterby having toured before as a player in 2005, although he and John Fogarty were on the New Zealand tour with Ireland in 2022. Farrell has moved to address that by bringing in Johnny Sexton, a veteran of the 2013 and 2017 tours, as his kicking coach.
Now, injuries permitting, Farrell junior and George would provide the heavy-duty Lions experience and knowledge of what is expected on a schedule that will bring the challenge of 10 games in seven weeks.