Welcome along to The Ruck, the journalist's rugby podcast from The Times and the Sunday Times,

an extra bonus emergency podcast for you, coming to you from a nice little deck in Sydney,

beautiful blue skies overhead, the sun is shining, but we had the biggest news of the tour

yesterday on our travel day as we were coming from Brisbane into Sydney ahead of the Waratars game

and that is that Owen Farrell has been called up to the squad Elliot Daly as we suspected

is out injured and Farrell is the man to replace him. I'm Alfie Reynolds welcome back Steve Jones

Will Kellarher and Alex Lowe sitting alongside me.

Gents, we always knew that there was the chance Owen would get called up.

It has been a story since before the squad was even announced.

But he is now here part of the 2025 Lions.

Charles, there's a lot to get into of this, Alex. I think it was more than a chance that he was coming out.

I felt from before the squad was announced that he was always in the plans.

The one thing that doesn't quite add up to me is why they waited for an injury to call him up because I think they always, you know, he'd been monitored by the Lions medics the whole way through from back home.

Andy Farrell said that they just felt they were light at 12 but the personnel in the centres certainly at 12 has been the same the whole time so

I'm not quite sure how that stacks up but I've always felt that he'd come out and everyone I've

spoken to close to the farrells close to the lions has always said even as recently as the last

couple of weeks Anthony Watson Danny, they've all been convinced.

Coaches have been convinced and now it's happened, now he's coming.

There's even been coaches on this tour who've been convinced that Owen should be here from the start.

So, and he's got plenty of accolades in the coaching group, hasn't he?

You have to go back to November before Johnny Sexton got the Lions, when he spoke, I went to see him in Dublin, and he talked about how Owen is one of the greatest teammates he's ever had, one of the greatest players, one of the greatest blokes, and if he was Irish, he'd be Ireland's greatest ever player. Johnny Sexton is now on the Lions coaching staff.

Richard Wigglesworth was his nine for years at Saracens.

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