LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Owen Farrell has been bedevilled by injury. But you write him off at your peril. He is a contender.'

Andy Farrell is a gut man. Or that’s the way he has always appeared to be, a man of instinct first and foremost, backing himself, trusting in his own judgement, chiselled and honed across many years at the sporting coal-face where all you received for getting it wrong was a black eye and a bloody nose. That is why if he thinks it right to take his son, Owen, on this summer’s Lions tour to Australia, he will take him. That is why if he judges the Willis brothers, Jack and Tom, to be worth a punt despite disadvantages such as a Top14 final or little or no test experience, he will take them. Likewise Courtney Lawes. Likewise the currently crocked Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, all the tooing-and-frooing over his dislocated shoulder issues illustrating that the so-called Brave New Bright Future world of hybrid contracts, the solver of all England’s ills, is more hype than substance.

Farrell will do as Farrell does. Of course he will have his data input, hours and hours of footage from his analysts highlighting this, that and the other about all the contenders for the adventure Down Under.  But that only takes you so far. The four yearly gig – ‘part medieval crusade, part school trip’ as it was once memorably described –has become more and more of a draw card for player and spectator alike and far from being a diminished experience as many once feared, too much of a luxury in the professional era, is more alluring then ever.  And the reason is simple – it’s a point of difference. It ought not to work. But it does.

Farrell has seen it at first-hand and knows that it’s far from a gimme that the best of four nations should easily account for a Wallaby side that has only just risen from the canvas to throw a few punches. The Lions head coach knows that just because his own team have ruled the global rankings and put a dent in Australia recently, that this does not translate into a copper-bottomed success story in July. In short, Farrell has to select a Lions team not an Irish one even though those self-same Irish players have proven themselves time and again against the best of the southern hemisphere.

It will be Farrell’s call, of course. But beware what has gone before. Graham Henry tried to impose a rigid way of doing things in Australia in 2001 and came up short. Clive Woodward tried it in his own chuck-everything-at-it way in New Zealand four years later, a no-expense-spared approach that proved a disaster. A template might be Warren Gatland’s  back-yourself selection call in the decisive third test in Sydney in 2013. Out went Lions’ icon, Brian O’Driscoll. In came Jamie Roberts. It went wholly against the grain. A gamble? Not in Gatland’s eyes. And he was right as the Lions recorded a famous series win with a 41-16 victory.

Of more straightforward consideration at fly-half are three English fly-halves. Marcus Smith should travel in tandem with the obvious Lions’ no.10, Scotland’s Finn Russell.

That is how Farrell will operate. And that means that Owen is in there with a shout. Why wouldn’t he be?. He has a fabulous track record as a Lion, committed to the cause, the most important criteria of all. Any inkling of nepotism would not even register with Andy Farrell, no matter how large it might loom in the minds of others. How crazy it is to look back and remember that Eddie Jones baulked at the idea of retaining Andy Farrell as an assistant coach post the 2015 RWC fall-out for fear of getting into the supposedly delicate business of dealing with selection issues over Owen. And so was a high-end coach lost to England.

The one rather significant thing against Owen is, obviously, his form. Or lack thereof. If one of the reasons prompting Owen to up sticks to France was to escape relentless and caustic media scrutiny then you can only hope his linguistic skills didn’t extend to him understanding Midi Olympique’s rating of him as ‘the No.1 recruitment flop,’ of the Top14 season, his flat performances ‘plunging (those watching) into an abyss of dismay.’ Never mind French flair on the field of play. They tend to write with a flourish, too.

Owen Farrell has been bedevilled by injury. But you write him off at your peril. He is a contender.

Of more straightforward consideration at fly-half are three English fly-halves. Marcus Smith should travel in tandem with the obvious Lions’ no.10, Scotland’s Finn Russell. There is a strong case to be made for Fin Smith, too. The Northampton man needs international game time and is likely to get that from the bench. If his rate of improvement continues across the next five months, then he, too, should be on the plane. Injury is an eternal bug-bear and if it should strike, then George Ford has all the qualities to step up to the plate.

The days of England supplying the bulk of a Lions touring party are long gone. Ireland have that mantle. Scotland, too, have plenty to offer. England, though, for all their struggles over the last 12 months, have weight. Jamie George may no longer the force that he was but his character is such that he would made for a splendid midweek captain. That role is not to be underestimated. Even in this micro-managed age the importance of someone to bind a team together, to help deal with the disappointments of those who missed out on test selection, is as significant as ever. Of course, players are paid and should be committed to the jersey no matter what.  Real life sport doesn’t work like that. Morale and mood matter. The 1993 tour was riven by discord. So too the 2001 trip. George must go, no matter the playing claims of others.

Whoever in the Lions management has the diplomatic skills of a Kofi Annan should already be making overtures to Toulouse about the release of Jack Willis.

Let’s pencil in a clutch of others. Ellis Genge gets the nod, so too Maro Itoje, of course. It is two Leicester man, George Martin and Ollie Chessum, however, who could prove to be just the rough-edged operators that Farrell will value for his forward pack. They have competition of the highest order for those places at lock and blindside flanker but a strong Six Nations showing could well push them to the front of the queue.

And, so, to the back-row conundrum. With a French fair wind and judicious selection from Steve Borthwick the Willis boys should, in my opinion, get the trip. They have the ability, they have the character, they have the drive, for sure, as they have made the best of the Wasps’ trauma. Tom Willis should be in England’s plans for this Six Nations. And whoever in the Lions management has the diplomatic skills of a Kofi Annan should already be making overtures to Toulouse about the release of Jack Willis (and Blair Kinghorn). The French owe the Lions nothing. But they do owe it to their players to facilitate as much as is possible their release for the tour even if it does compromise their Top 14 ambitions.

Who else in the England camp should expect a call from Andy Farrell? Scrum-half, Alex Mitchell, Northampton’s Tommy Freeman for sure, Feyi-Waboso, also if they sort out the shoulder rehab shenanigans with George Furbank also pressing his claims. The Curry brothers are right in the mix, Ben Earl, too, even if Tom Willis is also on board.

England will have a decent representation. Farrell will be doing the rounds throughout the Six Nations. He knows what he is looking for – test match animals as Lions supreme, Ian McGeechan puts it. Data doesn’t necessarily show you that. Instinct does. And Farrell has that in spades.