Lions series success has become rare. Farrell is determined to change that

The 42

01-05-2025

THE GUESSING GAME will be over this time next week.
It has been fun for everyone trying to forecast who Andy Farrell will pick for the Lions, but some of us are growing weary of listening to or reading the latest predicted squad.
So we will spare you another one here. But by all means, predict away below the line if you still have the energy.
The thing about trying to put yourself into Farrell's mind is that you can't. You don't think like he does.
The Lions head coach has admitted that he stays abreast of what is being discussed in the media because he feels it's part of his job to know how the people around him may be affected by it all.
But he genuinely doesn't appear to care in the slightest what others think.
It's easy to say you don't, but Farrell is regarded as a coach whose confidence in his knowledge and judgement means he doesn't allow outside opinion to sway his thinking.
He has already shown that with the make-up of his Lions staff, which includes four of his Ireland assistant coaches, the Irish head of athletic performance and head of analysis, and his former boss at the IRFU.
It's believed that Farrell was keen for Paul O'Connell to travel with the Lions too but he will instead step up as Ireland interim boss for their summer Tests against Georgia and Portugal.
There could yet be more Irish appointments behind the scenes. It takes an army of staff to organise and run a tour as big as the Lions. There are many moving parts and Farrell will likely lean on more familiar faces behind the scenes.
As for the faces front and centre on the pitch, it's widely expected that the squad Farrell names next Thursday in London will have a similarly strong Irish influence. Lost in some of the concerns about this apparent inevitability is the fact that Ireland have lots of excellent players.
Farrell has an Irish-heavy coaching staff. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Many of them were Grand Slam winners as recently as 2023 and lots of them are hoping to help Leinster to a URC and Champions Cup double before heading off on the Lions tour.
The make-up of his coaching staff underlines that Farrell doesn't care if the optics are off in some people's eyes. His only goal for this Lions tour is to win the Test series. That's the bottom line.
Upon confirming that Johnny Sexton has joined the Lions set-up, Farrell pointed out that the former Ireland out-half had a huge influence on the 2013 tour of Australia, on which Farrell was defence coach.
Farrell noted that 2013 was 'our only win in the last 24 years,' a reminder that the Lions haven't succeeded in a long time.
Drawing the series with New Zealand in 2017 was creditable, but undoubtedly anti-climactic. It even encouraged All Blacks boss Steve Hansen to use that bizarre 'a bit like kissing your sister' phrase that pops up in Kiwi rugby from time to time.
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The last Lions Test series success was the enthralling 1997 victory in South Africa. The Lions have only won one of the six series since.
Scotland's Ian McGeechan was the boss in 1997 and his initial 35-man squad was made up of 18 English players, eight from Wales, four from Ireland, and four from Scotland. Of the five call-ups during the tour, four were from England.
England had won a Grand Slam in 1995, reached the 1995 World Cup quarter-finals, won the 1996 Six Nations without a Slam and then finished second in the 1997 Six Nations with a Triple Crown.
That run is very similar to Ireland winning the Grand Slam in 2023, being edged out of an incredible high-quality 2023 World Cup quarter-final, winning the 2024 Six Nations without a Slam and the securing the Triple Crown in 2025.
England were clearly the best home nation in the cycle before the 1997 Lions tour and the same is true of Ireland before the 2025 Lions trip.
Keith Wood, Jeremy Davidson and Paul Wallace on the 1997 tour. INPHO INPHO
Wales won two Six Nations – one of them a Grand Slam – and reached the World Cup semi-finals in the years before the successful 2013 Lions tour and Warren Gatland brought 15 of them to Australia.
So 1997 was a heavily English-influenced tour, even if players like Ireland's Keith Wood and Jeremy Davidson, Wales' Neil Jenkins and Scott Gibbs, and Scotland's Tom Smith and Alan Tait started Tests.
McGeechan and his assistant, Jim Telfer, brought the group together in a powerful way and they beat the Springboks in thrilling fashion. That 1997 tour had a massive influence on many future players and coaches.
It's likely that Farrell's squad will have a similarly strong Irish influence. He knows and trusts his players to implement his plans. The fact the Lions have won only one of their last six series underlines how challenging it is to bring even a highly talented group of players together in a short space of time. Leaning on existing relationships makes sense.
As McGeechan and Telfer did before him, Farrell specialises in energising his teams with simple themes.
When Ireland won the Grand Slam in 2023, the head coach used an 'Unbreakable' theme that involved dipping back into Irish rugby's history and shedding light on some of the players who laid the ground for the current crop to follow. It was said to be powerful stuff, with Farrell's passionate delivery inspiring the squad.
We will hopefully get a chance to see how Farrell sets about uniting his Lions group when the documentary of this tour comes out. Farrell has already starred in a few of the previous ones, although he has said he's a little embarrassed now about those expletive-powered speeches.
Farrell almost certainly has his squad picked already, but this weekend's Champions and Challenge Cup semi-finals provide a last audition for anyone who is still on the 'maybes' list.
Farrell's son, Owen, will play for Racing 92 in their Challenge Cup clash with Lyon on Sunday. The only memorable time that Farrell senior clearly did care what people in the media were saying was when Owen was at the centre of a storm regarding a high tackle for England against Wales in 2023.
Owen and Andy Farrell on the 2013 Lions tour. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Ireland boss Farrell was angered by the scrutiny and could obviously see first-hand how it affected Owen's loved ones.
It remains to be seen if Farrell selects his son to go on this Lions tour, presuming Owen wants to go. Picking his son would drive lots of headlines, of course, but Farrell will be most concerned about improving the Lions' chances of winning.
History shows that Test success for the Lions is rare. Farrell won't be making his selections with any political slant or to please anyone. All he cares about is winning.