Lions boss Andy Farrell has warned Welsh flops not to expect any favours when he names his squad for the Australia tour this summer. Farrell will announce a group, of around 40 players, on 8 May, to head down under for the three-Test series and reckons he owes Jac Morgan and co nothing.
Wales bombed in the Six Nations, claiming a second straight wooden spoon, but traditionally Lions parties have had at least a couple of players from each of the four home nations. But serial trophy gatherer, and rugby league legend, Farrell has kicked that into touch, saying he is in it to win it against Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies, and is not worried about rubbing countries up the wrong way.
Farrell pinned his colours to the mast yesterday (WEDS) when he announced his team of assistant coaches that included three men who work him with at Ireland, Simon Easterby, John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman.Add in England’s Richard Wigglesworth and Scotland’s John Dalziel and the only Welshman on the staff is Aled Walters, head of S&C, and he also works for Ireland.
And Farrell is adamant the same principle holds for players.He said: “I’ve never done that. Imagine not going on a Lions tour because someone thinks that somebody else not as good deserves a place because of the dynamics. Surely that’s not fair. You can’t get to a point of justifying any type of selection unless you’ve done all the homework and get to understand the dynamics of what makes the individual and the team work.”
But Farrell is ready to pick stars who are playing which means son Owen could be in the running despite his stop-start season with Racing 92 in Paris. French league timetables mean players involved in the latter stages of the Top 14 play-offs could miss the first couple of games of the tour.
Toulouse’s Jack Willis, banned by England for playing in France and his Scottish clubmate Blair Kinghorn, who was free to play in the Six Nations, are right on Farrell’s radar.
And Farrell Jnr, who would bring three Lions tours worth of experience to the trip, plus 112 England caps, could catch his dad’s eye despite an injury-hit season in Paris.
Boss Farrell added: “Owen is the same as everyone else. He’s just coming back from injury. You keep an eye on everything, and him like every other player. We’re open-minded about all of that. Somebody could join us for game three. We could even have a conversation with some clubs over there, they might release them. These things will be ongoing.”
The Lions play a warm-up game against Argentina, in Dublin, on 20 June, before heading to Australia a day later ahead of their opener against Western Force, in Perth, on 28th.
