If Owen Farrell can't kick goals he should be nowhere near Lions Test team

Times

2 days ago

Owen Farrell had a tidy game. A decent kick, off the left foot with a fortuitous bounce resulted in an early try for Jamie Osborne. A straightforward dummy enabled Duhan van der Merwe to score his fifth try of the tour while a forceful intervention into a touchline mêlée was pure Farrell leadership. His team-mates love him for his instinctive defence of a colleague.
There were plenty of passes to Fin Smith, with the Saint looping around him. Farrell wears 12 but takes much first-phase ball in the fly half position. Primarily he delivered a series of pleasing sleight of hands; there was one sloppy pop pass to the ground, but overall he did well. He's a No10 masquerading as a 12. In two less-than-outstanding games he has been more than personally adequate. If the Lions wanted him in Australia for two midweek games, Andy Farrell's decision has been a definite success.
However, Farrell said everyone was contending for the Tests, including his son and, come full-time, he seemed further than ever from being a likely part of the Lions Test 23. The niggling, season-long groin injury has prevented him from utilising his greatest weapon by far: his goalkicking. Neither Fin, nor Marcus Smith, kicked well in Farrell's two Lions outings but not once did the former great kicker signal for the kicking tee.
More than any other reason, Farrell's claim to cover for the outstanding Finn Russell — were he to be injured — revolves around his old kicking credentials. An out-of-form Farrell on the bench? Maybe. A non-goalkicking Farrell? Forget it.
His supporters will say that he has the ability to turn the screws in a tight Test match. There were a few such kicks against First Nations & Pasifika XV. Yet the most impressive element to Russell has been his capacity to keep a cool head. The pass to Sione Tuipulotu will live long in the memory from Brisbane but he has evolved into a poet who also plays the percentages.
Russell is not going to revert to the so-called 'maverick' of old. Those childish toys have long been discarded. The only reasons to substitute him would be an injury or to rest him, with the game won. Marcus Smith stepped into those boots in the first Test. In Melbourne he came through the worry of a head injury assessment. That's two Smiths who, at the very least, will kick in a crisis.
Russell and Farrell, at No10 and No12, could weave a few spells with the Englishman stepping into first receiver and the Scot drifting all over the park. That's fanciful. The Lions will want to be direct. That means Russell is the first man to get either hands or boot on to the ball. Australia, you suspect, would love nothing more than to see Russell five metres deeper than he was in Brisbane and not taking complete control of proceedings.
More important for the Lions is to win the gainline against a potentially more powerful Wallabies side. Bundee Aki gives them this thunder from the bench. Farrell does not. He has never been a hard gainline runner at inside centre. The Saracens man's game revolves around soft passes and clever league-like dinks behind defences.
That might not be the last thing the Lions need but it is nowhere near the top of the list of priorities. They have a pair of half backs who are tactically astute. More than anything they crave forward momentum. There is an Irish and a Scottish centre who fulfil that role in a way Farrell cannot.
If he was the old Farrell, his goalkicking alone would make him at least part of the debate to cover 10 and 12. Especially given the availability of Blair Kinghorn as a versatile back-three man. The Toulouse and Scotland player was his club's first-choice kicker over none other than Thomas Ramos in 2024, but he hasn't kicked for while. He has the skill but goal-kicking is a matter of psychology as much as anything. 'Go out and kick us to victory if Finn gets a knock.' Alas, it is not that easy.
I wouldn't trust either Marcus or Fin's boot on the evidence of this tour and the last few months of the season. But unless Farrell Sr has fooled us all and kept Farrell Jr's boots back for the second Test, one of the Smiths must cover Russell, the goal-kicker. The Lions need a goal-kicker on the bench. It's as simple as that.