“What a comeback”, they will be tempted to say across the Channel! Owen Farrell will pull on the British and Irish Lions jersey on Tuesday for the midweek game slotted between two tests against Australia, against a “Pacific and First Nations” selection. Ten days after already taking part in the Lions’ demolition of a mixed Australia-New Zealand selection (48-0), the legendary fly-half with 112 England caps, who retired from international rugby after the 2023 World Cup, will start the match at centre and will even be captain.

Quite a turnaround for a man who was not in the original British and Irish Lions squad and who joined the group at the start of the tour to cover the arm injury suffered by full-back Elliot Daly. A recall that Andy Farrell, Owen’s father and the Lions head coach this year, had to justify.

“He’s in form, otherwise he wouldn’t have been picked. He’s been training fully for a while now and he’s the right person at the right time for us. The timing is good both for him and for us. So I think it’s a good thing, not just for Owen’s career but above all for the good of the Lions”.

“The decision to name him captain is pretty clear”

Those words followed questions raised in England, such as those from the Sun, which pointed to Farrell’s “catastrophic season in Top 14” with Racing 92 and the fact that “he hasn’t been seen in action for two months because of concussion”.

On Tuesday, it was Andy Farrell’s assistant, Simon Easterby, who was sent into the firing line to explain the 33-year-old playmaker’s inclusion in the starting XV and his captaincy. “With all his experience, the decision to name him captain is pretty clear. What he has brought to the group since he arrived has been brilliant. He has a strong aura with the young players and what he has shown over the past two weeks makes him the right choice to lead this team on Tuesday”.

Held back by injuries, Owen Farrell still took part in half of Racing 92’s Top 14 matches, 11 of them as a starter, as well as one Champions Cup game and three in the Challenge Cup this season. A club he has decided to leave a year before the end of his contract, to go back and play for his lifelong team: Saracens. Farrell is on his fourth tour with the British and Irish Lions this year and on Tuesday will play his 20th match in the fabled red jersey. Experience that commands respect when you consider that the Lions only come together every four years.