Owen Farrell: British and Irish Lions hopes hit by injury in Racing 92's Challenge Cup defeat to Lyon
Owen Farrell had been hopeful of inclusion in his father Andy's squad for the British and Irish Lions tour; watch the 2025 Lions tour of Australia exclusively live on Sky Sports with the squad announcement live from 2pm on Thursday May 8
Sunday 4 May 2025 16:36, UK
Owen Farrell's hopes of being selected for the British and Irish Lions squad to tour Australia were dealt a blow after he suffered a head injury during Racing 92's 29-15 Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Lyon.
Farrell, selected at inside-centre for the first time this season instead of his usual fly-half position, was forced off after just 19 minutes with the score at 0-0.
The 33-year-old England fly-half took a hit to the head from Mickael Guillard's hip as he attempted to tackle his opponent.
Farrell is a three-time Lions tourist and was in contention for a place in father Andy's squad for this summer even though his debut season at Racing 92 has been affected by a groin injury.
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A 37-man Lions squad will be named on Thursday with the announcement live on Sky Sports.
With three, potentially four, fly-halves heading to Australia, Owen Farrell had a chance, albeit slim, of going on a fourth Lions tour.
After leading England to bronze at the 2023 World Cup, Farrell took the decision to put his international career on hold to pursue the opportunity to play in France with Racing 92.
With England's policy stipulating only players contracted to English clubs are eligible for selection, Farrell's sabbatical has left him frozen out of the international picture for the past 18 months.
In his absence, Marcus Smith and Fin Smith have set out their stalls at fly-half for England, with both ahead of Farrell in the running for Lions selection as a result.
The decision looked set to put Farrell's hopes of going on a fourth Lions tour to bed until Farrell senior revealed he would be open to picking players based in France, despite the first two tour fixtures in Dublin and Perth clashing with the conclusion of the Top 14 season.
When asked about the possibility of taking his son to Australia, Andy Farrell replied: "Same as everyone else. He's just coming back from injury. You keep an eye on everything, so yeah."
Following Farrell's departure on Sunday afternoon, Leo Berdeu kicked the first of five penalties to open the scoring for hosts Lyon before Vincent Rattez registered their first try.
Diego Escobar and Kleo Labarbe both touched down for Racing either side of Beka Saghinadze crossing for Lyon's second try, but it was Berdeu's kicking which made the difference and set up a Challenge Cup final clash against Bath at the Principality Stadium on May 23.
The Lions squad announcement will be streamed on the Sky Sports App on Thursday May 8 from 2pm with live coverage on Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports Main Event. All games in the British and Irish Lions tour this summer will be live on Sky Sports.
