British and Irish Lions: Andy Farrell hits back at 'nonsense' over decision to call up Owen Farrell
Andy Farrell faced several questions over his decision to call up son Owen Farrell to the squad; watch Waratahs vs Lions on Saturday on Sky Sports Action and Main Event from 10am; Sky to show all matches in Australia, including all three Tests against the Wallabies
Friday 4 July 2025 09:14, UK
British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell has hit back at "nonsense" after the shock decision to call up his son Owen Farrell.
Owen has replaced utility back Elliot Daly, who fractured his forearm in Wednesday's win over Queensland Reds, but has not played international rugby since the 2023 World Cup.
The 33-year-old struggled at French side Racing 92 last season, which ended with a concussion nine weeks ago, and will return to Saracens for the new league campaign.
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"I hope people can get past that [the negative reaction]. I think there's been a lot of that nonsense for some time and that was in the past," said Andy.
"We all just need to move on and embrace what the Lions is all about and what we've got coming ahead.
"There's plenty of players that have not played Test matches for quite some time. There's plenty of players that missed Six Nations or 12 weeks of not playing."
Owen will join the Lions squad on Friday night but is not in the team that will play New South Wales Waratahs on Saturday - live on Sky Sports at 11am (build-up from 10am).
In a press conference dominated by Owen's return, Andy consistently pointed to his son's experience and says he's "fully fit".
"He's what we need for the squad with Elliot going and Blair [Kinghorn] coming in," he said.
"When you look at the experience Elliot had, it's not just the playing side, it's how you make the group feel, the little chats you have, and Owen will bring a lot of that into the group.
"Owen is fit otherwise he wouldn't be picked. The guys have been keeping close touch with him and others in regards to that. He's been training fully for quite some time now."
Andy Farrell looking for 'more continuity'
Saturday's match will see Ireland's Hugo Keenan, Scotland's Blair Kinghorn and England's Ben Earl make their Lions debuts.
Fin Smith has been named at fly-half and Ireland's Tadhg Beirne will captain the side as Maro Itoje takes a game off.
Farrell said: "[I want] a bit more continuity, more putting things together. There's a bit of a stop-start nature with our outcomes, which is process-driven 100 per cent, sometimes just lacking a little bit of staying in the moment as much as we possibly can.
"Having said that, I think it's getting better. I suppose there's always things to fix in every single game but we've also been pleased with some of our progression.
"I thought our breakdown work was great the other night and our transition work, whether it be defence to attack, attack to defence, I thought that was pretty good as well. We obviously want to keep improving our defence because that will be the main thing that you want to stand for."
British and Irish Lions side to face New South Wales Waratahs - live on Sky Sports
British and Irish Lions: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Finlay Bealham, 4 Tadhg Beirne (c), 5 James Ryan, 6 Henry Pollock, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Joe McCarthy, 20 Scott Cummings, 21 Jac Morgan, 22 Ben White, 23 Marcus Smith.
Waratahs: 15 Lawson Creighton, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Lalakai Foketi, 12 Joey Walton, 11 Darby Lancaster, 10 Jack Bowen, 9 Teddy Wilson; 1 Tom Lambert, 2 Ethan Dobbins, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Fergus Lee-Warner, 5 Miles Amatosero, 6 Rob Leota, 7 Charlie Gamble, 8 Hugh Sinclair (c).
Replacements: 16 Mahe Vailanu, 17 Jack Barrett, 18 Daniel Botha, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Jamie Adamson, 21 Jack Grant, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Henry O'Donnell.
British and Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports
Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.
