“Can you leave Owen Farrell out of a Lions test team? ...you can!" - O'Driscoll

With the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour finally confirmed to be on the horizon, legend of the red jersey, Brian O’Driscoll, has set an interesting notion loose amongst all the chatter regarding selection on the ideal starting XV. In short, O’Driscoll has not been impressed by the form of England captain Owen Farrell and does not believe the player has shown enough to be in the starting team.

Farrell has been at the helm of what has been a decidedly disappointing England Six Nations campaign – the men in white ultimately finishing fifth overall – which has called into question the abilities of not only himself, but head coach Eddie Jones as well.

“Can you leave Owen Farrell out of a Lions test team?” O’Driscoll said on Friday’s Off The Ball, “Well, on the basis of some of the form recently, you can!

“He has been playing 12 and not playing brilliantly, and conversely Johnny Sexton has been playing very well.

'Can you leave Owen Farrell out of a Lions test team?... You can!' | 🦁

Brian O'Driscoll does not believe that the England captain will start against the Springboks | 🇿🇦 @VodafoneIreland | #TeamOfUs https://t.co/FsQgKUnhEl

— Off The Ball (@offtheball) March 28, 2021

“But we are all ageist no matter what we would like to admit. There will be concerns around if he can handle the physicality that is coming.

“As a 36-year-old as he will be then, with big South Africans running at him and trying to knock him over and take him out of the game.

“So, that will come into the reckoning for Warren Gatland as well.”

O’Driscoll, an old friend and teammate of Sexton’s, elaborated:

“I would pick Johnny Sexton, but I have always said that,” O’Driscoll said. “I have always been: ‘if in doubt, I know what he delivers’.

“He is tried and tested, he is playing really well, and he is finishing well.

“At the moment, it is probably Robbie Henshaw, Jonathan Davies for the security and the know-how at 13, and then Johnny Sexton just at 10 ahead of Farrell and [Dan] Biggar.

“But there is not much between any of them. If you selected either of the other two would you throw your toys out of the cot?

“You have got to think that Robbie Henshaw is a starter,” O’Driscoll said. “Even though Jonathan Davies hasn’t delivered brilliant performances, he has been in a winning Welsh team.

“He is not back to the form of Jonathan Davies of three or four years ago, and yet he has always done it for Warren Gatland. You have got to remember that; that is going to be a key component in the confidence of selection.

“If you were picking on reputation, it is Jonathan Davies plus one, but now Robbie Henshaw, because he was on the previous Lions tour and has played brilliantly well; he has to start on pure form.

“So, where do [Owen] Farrell and [Jonathan] Sexton fit in to that?”