Andy Farrell’s potential choices at outhalf for the Lions tour to Australia look wide open at this stage.
Gerry Thornley: This season could see an outhalf bolter make a play for Lions starting shirtJacques Nienaber: ‘It was never the case that Rassie and I didn’t enjoy Munster or Ireland’Farrell was only 21 but had already established himself over the previous two seasons as England’s outhalf. Sexton started all three Tests, with Farrell coming on as a replacement in each of those matches as the Lions won the series 2-1. So, not much debate there then.
Despite Sexton therefore losing only once in five Test starts, Gatland cited the player’s durability and ability to play in three successive Tests when not including him in the 2021 squad for South Africa. That decision was made to look additionally ill-advised when Sexton played all bar the Italy match in Ireland’s 2023 Grand Slam and was an ever-present in the three-match series win in New Zealand.
Biggar started all three Tests, with Farrell brought on as a replacement for the first two, before Russell recovered from injury to have a transformative effect on the third Test as an 11th-minute replacement for the stricken Biggar. Farrell, 33, has effectively drawn the curtain on his England career and is playing with Racing 92. He hasn’t seemingly set the Top 14 ablaze yet, besides which the French Championship runs until the first weekend of June, following by three playoff weekends.
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