There will certainly be enough hot air expressed over Owen’s Lions call-up to fill a big top or two.
The case against is clear. Owen is short of form, fitness and top-level rugby.
His last game was two months ago, when he was forced out of Racing 92’s defeat by Lyon. His last Test rugby was nearly two years ago as part of England’s run to the France 2023 semi-finals.
His most recent club campaign was interrupted by injury, with a groin problem restricting his game time and place kicking.
Racing, having flirted with relegation, finished 10th in the Top 14.
Why, with the likes of Scotland’s Tom Jordan and Wales’ Blair Murray – both geographically closer, fitter, and less controversial – has Andy disrupted the Lions’ Test preparations with the furore that will accompany Owen’s call-up?
Perhaps because that disruption is exactly what Farrell thinks the tourists need.
Even allowing for another curveball call, Owen’s chances of making the Test 23 are surely slim.
Finn Russell seems secure as the Test 10 – Fin Smith is more likely to deputise for the Scot. Both are better suited to the more expansive style that Farrell has so far attempted to implement.
At inside centre, Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu offer a ball-carrying threat that Farrell, certainly at 33, doesn’t. To include Farrell there would mean turning tactics on their head as well.
On the bench, Marcus Smith’s ability to cover full-back, with Blair Kinghorn and Hugo Keenan undercooked as yet, and fly-half looks more useful.
What Farrell does offer though is an instant injection of intensity, just as the Wallabies bound into sight.
At half-time of one match of the Lions’ last visit to Australia, Paul O’Connell asked the great and the good huddled around him why the 21-year-old rookie in their midst was the one shouting loudest and asking most on the field.
Johnny Sexton was on that tour. And was equally impressed.
In October, before being included in Farrell’s Lions coaching staff, he gave an interview to the Times newspaper, saying he would still have Farrell as his Test 10 for the 2025 tour.
“He’s one of the best team-mates I’ve ever had,” Sexton said.
“He’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with. Who do you want in there when the going gets tough? Test-match animals.”
Every player who has shared a dressing room says the same. Farrell’s appetite for the contest is insatiable. His drive to improve standards is constant.
