Warren Gatland pinpoints the potential stumbling block for Owen Farrell’s British and Irish Lions call
Former British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland is backing Andy Farrell to select his son Owen Farrell if he believes that he fits the requirements of the squad.
Current Ireland boss Farrell has been named as Gatland’s successor after the New Zealander led the Lions on three tours in 2013, 2017 and 2021 and will be tasked with leading the invitational team in Australia next year.
With Andy taking charge of the team, he has the dilemma of whether he selects his son Owen as part of his touring party to tackle the Wallabies, a position that Gatland does not envy.
The current Wales boss picked fly-half Farrell in all three of his touring squads including the 2013 and 2017 tours when father Farrell was the team’s defence coach.
Father-son, coach-player dynamic ‘has never been a problem’
In his latest Telegraph column, Gatland explained that he never wanted to coach his son Bryn Gatland, who played for the Blues and Highlanders in Super Rugby. He admits, however, that he didn’t feel that ‘it has ever been a problem for Andy and Owen before.’
“Andy, as Ireland head coach, has had plenty of experience of coaching against Owen when he was playing for England, before his move to Racing 92 this season,” Gatland wrote.
“And from my experience there has never been a problem of them working together in the same team environment after what I saw first-hand on two Lions tours to Australia in 2013 and to New Zealand four years later.”
The 61-year-old added that he is fascinated to see how the new Lions boss handles the situation and advised that he has an early conversation with Owen to gauge his interest.
However, from experience, Gatland believes that the biggest issue will be around Owen’s availability and whether the fly-half will be available for a release from Racing 92 to participate in the tour.
“I had to deal with a similar situation with Jonny Wilkinson ahead of the 2013 tour, when there was a clamour from some sections of the press for the England fly-half to be selected, even though he had retired from international rugby in 2011 and was playing for Toulon,” he wrote.
“So, I rang Jonny to ask if he would be available to go on the tour, even though I knew what the answer would be. He said he couldn’t because he was committed to playing for Toulon.”
Pick Owen if he is the right fit
He added: “If Owen is available and wants to be part of the tour, he should pick him if he thinks it is right for the squad and not worry about the father-son aspect to the selection. As the Lions head coach, you have to take the emotion and relationship out of it and make the right decision. The other things can follow from there.
“You know what you are getting with Owen: experience, leadership, a competitive edge, a player who is tough. If he is on the top of his game, then he is a player who you know would be Test-match ready, and he has the benefit of being able to play centre as well. I think a lot will depend on how Racing 92 get on this season.”
Last year, the Lions announced that they had agreed a strategic partnership with Premiership Rugby and the United Rugby Championship.
A critical aspect of the partnership is alignment on the tour schedule with an agreement enabling all selected British & Irish Lions players to be available for all pre-tour activities. However, this would not extend to the potential Lions based in France.
This could be problematic for Paris-based Farrell if his team do reach the finale of the Top 14 as the showpiece event would take place eight days after the Lions’ first clash which is against Argentina in Dublin and on the same day as their first tour match against the Western Force.
