Owen Farrell misses out on Lions squad for first Australia Test

Telegraph

2 days ago

Owen Farrell has missed out on a place in the Lions matchday squad with Marcus Smith preferred on the bench for the first Test against Australia, Telegraph Sport understands.
Tom Curry, the Sale Sharks openside flanker, is also poised to win a place in a ferociously competitive back row for game against the Wallabies at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.
Henry Pollock, the dynamic 20-year-old England flanker, has been squeezed out of the matchday 23.
Yet the biggest surprise is that Farrell will not be involved in the Lions squad against the Wallabies, barring any late injuries in training on Wednesday.
Ever since Telegraph Sport broke the story that head coach Andy Farrell had called up his own son to replace the injured Elliot Daly, it appeared inevitable that the 33-year-old would at least gain a place on the bench.
Farrell, the former England captain, made his first appearance of the tour after coming on as a replacement in the 48-0 victory against an AUNZ invitational XV on Saturday and instantly demonstrated his class.
'He's done exactly what we knew he was going to do in terms of help and influence, and obviously contributed on the field when that time came up,' Richard Wigglesworth, the Lions assistant coach, said on Tuesday. 'You all know how good he is, the influence he has, his knowledge and how he helps other people get better. I don't need to stand (sit) here, saying it again.
'We're going over old ground and it only comes up because it's maybe not expressed like that at the time. We all knew how good he was going to be and it's been that way. As he does, he's always working on getting better and doing that. But he's the influential Owen that we know and love.'
However, Farrell was called up having not played a match for nearly nine weeks before the tour after an injury-hit season with Racing 92 in which he was dogged by a groin problem. He had not played Test rugby since the 2023 World Cup when he stepped down from international rugby.
Andy Farrell has repeatedly stated that he views Owen primarily as an inside centre rather than a fly half.
Smith, the Harlequins playmaker, can cover the back three, which may have been a trump card in his selection, with Mack Hansen and Blair Kinghorn both set to miss out through injury.
Perhaps the most contentious area of selection was in the back row where it appears Curry will be trusted to deliver in the Test match despite not delivering his best form on the tour.
The likes of Jac Morgan, Josh van der Flier, Ben Earl and Pollock had all delivered stronger individual displays but Curry has the pedigree of starting all three Tests of the 2021 series against South Africa.
Although Curry has not been in as eye-catching form in Australia, Andy Farrell has raved about his off-ball work.
'He's a machine,' Farrell said. 'His work rate, his stuff off the ball is very impressive. The stuff that he does off the ball makes teams tick. He's so fit, so determined to have an impact on the game, especially as far as physicality is concerned. I think he started the tour really well.'
England's Ollie Chessum, who can cover second row and blindside flanker, is also set to be handed a starting berth and Jack Conan is likely to be trusted at No 8.
Following the win against the AUNZ team, the coaches held their final selection meeting on Monday night before informing the players of the team at a squad meeting on Wednesday, when they will have their main performance training session of the week.
Wigglesworth said that the coaches' meeting was challenging in terms of discussing selection.
'It certainly wasn't easy,' Wigglesworth said. 'Very conversational as it always has been the whole way through, as it was with the selection process. Willing to be challenged on it, everyone being able to voice an opinion and then we come back to it and back to it again.
'It wasn't very, 'this is the team, this is final'. It's still not been announced so who knows? We could go back and we're having another one.'