England great Owen Farrell is set to be called up for his fourth British and Irish Lions tour by his father and coach Andy Farrell in the wake of an injury to Elliot Daly.
The UK Telegraph reports Farrell is the “front-runner to receive a sensational call-up to the Lions tour,” should Daly be ruled out of action after his arm injury suffered in the win over Queensland.
Farrell, who has 112 England caps and represented the Lions on their 2013, 2017, and 2021 tours, was initially left out of the squad.
While Daly is a No.15, Andy Farrell made it clear he was well stocked in that department. One of the options is Marcus Smith, which could mean a vacancy in the backup No.10 role.
Daly is to undergo an X-ray for a suspected broken forearm after being forced off in the second half of the British and Irish Lions’ 52-12 victory over Queensland Reds.
Farrell denied the Lions are facing problems at full-back despite the doubt that now hovers over Daly’s ongoing participation in the tour.
England’s Owen Farrell. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Daly made a remarkable 11th successive appearance in a Lions matchday 23 after being drafted in as a late replacement for Huge Keenan, who was ruled out by illness shortly before kick-off.
The England star and veteran of three Lions tours was on song again for Farrell’s men, only to be left clutching his left arm in agony after making a tackle on Jock Campbell and, after playing on, he left the field in the 67th minute.
“Elliot’s got a bang on the forearm and he’s going for an X-ray this evening (Wednesday). We’ve all got our fingers crossed for him,” Farrell said.
“He’s been back to his good old self. We’ve seen him do that on these tours before and he’s certainly the type of character that loves touring. He’s a people person.
“I phoned him up today. He’d just come out of the gym, had done a tough old session, and I said to him, ‘How was the gym session?’ He says, ‘Good, yeah, we trained hard’.
“I said, ‘Well done, you’ve won the golden ticket, you’re playing this evening’. He was not phased at all and that’s the type of characters that you need on tours like this.”
Daly’s injury, Keenan’s withdrawal and the fact Blair Kinghorn only arrived into Lions camp on Monday paints a picture of dwindling options in the number 15 jersey, but Farrell is comfortable with who he has available.
“We’ve loads of full-backs. Hugo will be OK tomorrow (Thursday) or the next day and Blair’s ready to go,” he said.
Owen Farrell would be a controversial choice to join his dad Down Under, having stepped away from playing for England by moving to France for one ill-fated season.
“I can’t say,” Farrell said. “It is all very hypothetical, isn’t it? A lot would need to happen, and I need to make sure I am ready to go if that does come around. That is the only point that matters,” Owen said when asked about a potential Lions call-up recently.
