It's official - Andy Farrell will be Lions head coach for the tour of Australia next summer.
The Ireland head coach will leave his post with Ireland temporarily in December in order to fully focus on leading the Lions, with the initial selection of the squad among the toughest tasks he will be faced with.
With the best talent of Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales to call on, it will be a tricky call for Farrell to whittle down the immense pool of players to a reasonable touring squad (Warren Gatland named 37 players in his squad for South Africa in 2021).
One of the most intriguing question marks around the squad selection surrounds Andy Farrell's son Owen.
Farrell Jr has been one of the world's leading out-halves for a decade now, and has played in six test matches across three different tours for the Lions.
However, after the media frenzy that surrounded his suspension for the early parts of last year's World Cup, Owen has chosen to take a step back from international rugby for his own wellbeing and for that of his family.
As well as taking a leave of absence from the national team for at least the upcoming Six Nations, Farrell has also been heavily linked with a move to Racing 92 for the coming season. If that move were to come to fruition, it's conceivable that Farrell will have gone 18 months without test rugby by the time the Lions tour comes around, given England's policy of only picking domestic-based players for the national team.
The dilemma as to whether or not to pick Owen Farrell - a legitimate contender to captain the squad - will only grow with his expected prolonged absence from test rugby.
It is intriguing, therefore, to see resurfaced footage from the 2013 tour which suggests Andy Farrell is prepared to be ruthless and to detach any family loyalties from the selection process.
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2013 clip shows Andy Farrell debating son Owen's place in Lions squad
Andy Farrell was part of Warren Gatland's backroom team for the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours, serving as defence coach in both Australia and New Zealand.
Charlie Morgan of the Telegraph shared behind-the-scenes footage from the Lions Raw documentary on Thursday, showing Farrell, Gatland, and the Lions coaching team debating their squad selection for the 2013 tour to Australia.
Safe bet that there will be plenty of chatter over the next 18 months regarding whether Andy Farrell picks Owen for the 2025 tour. Worth pointing out that there's footage (from Lions Raw) of Andy suggesting that he'd pick Jonny Wilkinson over his son for the 2013 tour. Sound on: pic.twitter.com/LGsTXk5lAz
— Charlie Morgan (@CharlieFelix) January 11, 2024
Of particular note is the excerpt above, where Gatland and Farrell discuss who should be the out-half options:
Gatland: I'd take Farrell and Sexton, and have Hogg as cover.
Farrell: You need to speak to Jonny [Wilkinson] because if he says, 'yes, I am available,' then you have to pick him.
Ultimately, Sexton and Farrell were indeed taken on tour, with the Lions coaching team selecting only two out-halves.
Given the fact that Sexton played almost every minute of the three tests, it's hard to imagine that the coaching team were considering pulling him for Owen Farrell, suggesting that a potential spot for Jonny Wilkinson would have been at the expense of his countryman.
No doubt the position of Owen Farrell in the Lions selection debate will be one of the biggest stories of the coming months, as his father Andy prepares to lead the touring side for the first time in Australia next summer.
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