Lions boss Andy Farrell confirms son Owen WILL be in competition for 2025 tour – regardless of ex-England captain’s injury-hit begin to life with Racing 92

Andy Farrell has confirmed that his son Owen, the former England captain, is in contention for the Lions tour – after a first meeting of the full coaching staff led to around 75 squad candidates being identified.

The man leading the crusade to Australia named an Ireland-dominated cast of assistants on Wednesday, with Richard Wigglesworth included as the sole representative from England. 

Farrell Snr revealed that dozens of players are on the selection radar, including Farrell Jnr, despite the fact that the fly-half has not played Test rugby since the last World Cup and has endured a difficult, injury-disrupted season with Racing 92 in Paris.

Asked if the 33-year-old could be selected – as an experienced playmaker with Lions pedigree, unlike other 10s vying for inclusion – the head coach said: ‘Same as everyone else. He’s just coming back from injury. You keep an eye on everything and him like every other player so, yeah.’

Owen Farrell is not the only ex-England player based in France who could be chosen for the British and Irish mission Down Under. Courtney Lawes is another, despite being in the second division with promotion-chasing Brive. 

Toulouse’s Scotland full-back, Blair Kinghorn, is a prime contender for a Lions Test place, even though he could be forced to arrive on tour late if his club – as usual – reach the Top 14 play-offs. His club-mate, Jack Willis, could be considered too.

Andy Farrell named an unsurprisingly Ireland-dominated backroom staff for the Lions tour

He also confirmed that his son and former England captain Owen Farrell will be eligible

England skipper Maro Itoje is considered to be one of the two front-runners to captain the tour

Asked about the policy on selecting players based in France, Farrell Snr said: ‘We’re open-minded about that. We don’t know if we’re going to have sufficient players in certain positions so somebody could join us for game three etc. We could even have a conversation with some clubs over there – they might release them. These things will be on-going.’

Having unveiled his assistants – Wigglesworth and Andrew Goodman (attack), Simon Easterby (defence), John Dalziel (forwards) and John Fogarty (scrum) – in London’s jewellery district, Farrell Snr explained that they had discussed the make-up of their squad the previous day. They will have plenty of gems to sift through.

‘I think we came up to about 75 men,’ he said. ‘Every one of them deserves to be on that list. There will be a hell of a lot of good players that don’t make the plane and that’s exactly where we wanted to be. We want this to be as competitive as we possibly can.’

On May 8, the cross-code English icon on secondment from his day job as Ireland head coach will name his squad at the O2 Arena. He will also name a tour captain. That is widely seen as a two-horse race between Maro Itoje and his Irish counterpart, Caelan Doris.

But, in theory, others are still in the mix. Farrell was asked if there are more than two names on that shortlist and said: ‘Yeah. I read all the stuff (coverage), so I get where you’re all at, but there are four or five or six. We’ll whittle it down to who’s going to be themselves and flourish in that environment, and it is a process that we will keep going through.

‘The captain has got to be highly respected in the group, not just as a player and as a leader within the changing-room, but a leader in the way he handles himself in the entirety of what a Lions captain should be.’ So, it appears that the skipper will need to be an imposing figurehead, but also an accomplished statesman. Quite the task, as ever.

Meanwhile, there won’t be any tokenism when it comes to selecting players from the four different home nations – a particular factor for Welsh wannabes who may fear that another Six Nations wooden spoon has harmed their chances. 

‘Imagine not going on a Lions tour because someone thinks that somebody else not as good deserves a place because of the dynamics (of picking a spread of nationalities),’ said Farrell. ‘Surely that’s not fair.’