British & Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell has opened up about asking his son, Owen Farrell, to join the 2025 tour.
It was a move that sparked one of the biggest controversies in modern rugby.
An extract from Farrell’s forthcoming autobiography, The Only Way I Know, published in The Times, details the emotional phone call between father and son that preceded the now-famous selection.
The elder Farrell reveals that his coaching team had unanimously backed Owen’s inclusion despite a difficult, injury-hit season in France with Racing 92. Still, he was acutely aware of the accusations of nepotism that would follow.
“There had to be no bias whatsoever,” Andy Farrell wrote. “And that included the consideration of whether to pick Owen from the start of the tour. I couldn’t shy away from that decision professionally.”
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Farrell explained that his son’s leadership qualities were vital for a squad short on Lions experience.
“I wanted to bring him, despite his difficult and injury-disrupted season in Paris,” he said. “I knew he would add the type of leadership skills we would need with a squad containing only a handful of players who had been on the last proper Lions tour in 2017.
“This would be Owen’s fourth tour. I knew he would get it immediately and would help bring the best out of the others around him. Every other coach favoured picking Owen too.”
But before confirming the decision, the head coach felt he owed his son a call.
“Ordinarily, that would have been it – we would have simply named him along with the others,” Farrell recalled. “But I knew it was not yet a done deal. I told the coaches I would have to ring Owen first. I needed to know whether he wanted to go and what he thought about stepping back into the international spotlight after all he had to put up with during the 2023 World Cup.”
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The conversation was emotional.
“This was a very hard phone call,” Farrell admitted. “When I asked Owen if he would come, he broke down in tears. He said he did not think it would be right for him, for the squad, or for me as head coach.”
As history shows, Owen Farrell eventually did join the tour – and vindicated his father’s faith.
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
