Andy Farrell opened up about the awkward moment when his phone connection failed while trying to tell Maro Itoje he had been appointed as British and Irish Lions captain. Itoje became the frontrunner for the armband after Ireland’s Caelan Doris went down injured during Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton Saints last weekend and will undergo surgery, ruling him out of the tour.
Itoje’s appointment as skipper isn’t unwarranted, given he’s held the same role for the England team since January 2025 – a position he grew into during a Six Nations campaign that saw the Red Rose finish second. With captain experience under his belt, Itoje will now lead the world’s most famous touring side down under this summer.
However, the moment was somewhat ruined by a dodgy phone line. Speaking at the squad announcement event in London, Itoje explained: “It was also quite niggly because the signal was quite bad.” A comment that caused the 2,000 spectators inside the 02 to burst out laughing.
Farrell picked up the slack, adding: “It was actually shocking. It was such an anti-climax actually, because I’d phoned his head coach at Saracens to try and find out when training was finished, when he [Itoje] was going to be on his own. Because it’s important they’re able to savour it, have a moment on their own. Instead of being at training in front of the lads.
“I found out when he was going to be finished training, so I decided I’d phone him at 3pm. By that time I was at the airport, I rang him, he said ‘hello’, and I said ‘It’s Andy Farrell, can you hear me?’ he started cracking up and I couldn’t get the words out because he couldn’t hear. Anyway, I put the phone down and then it’s gone [the moment] because he knows something is brewing. I rang him back and said ‘By the way would you like to be British & Irish Lions captain?”
Itoje’s reign as skipper will begin when the Lions welcome Argentina for a warm-up match in Dublin next month, before flying out to Australia for their first of nine games in the rugby-loving nation. Three of those matches will be Tests against the Wallabies, who remain the last side the Lions beat in a series, triumphing 2-1 under the tutelage of Warren Gatland back in 2013.