Sexton and Farrell will fit bill for Lions
OWEN FARRELL is the outstanding candidate to captain the Lions.
His closest challenger is Alun Wyn Jones, but with the Welsh player’s ambitions of touring imperilled by injury, Farrell should be the man trusted to lead the squad in New Zealand.
Rugby wisdom cautions against making a back the captain of a team, but Farrell is different.
In a side that will be generally peopled by relatively subdued characters like Joe Launchbury and Justin Tipuric, he will stand out.
And he will start, too. That looks inevitable after a Six Nations in which he was brilliant. He will not displace Johnny Sexton from the No10 position, but rather he will play alongside him at inside centre.
Presuming Sexton has the kicking responsibility, he will not need burdening with the additional duties of representing the squad and dealing with the laughably sensitive New Zealand media.
Rory Best is the other contender mentioned, but he will struggle to make the trip at all.
He was inspirational against England last Saturday, but had bad days against both Scotland and Wales.
A pragmatist like touring coach Warren Gatland will have no compunction about making an England reserve a starter, and that is what he should do: the best hooker available to him is Jamie George.
Farrell, like Sexton, is brave and cranky, important qualities in the most self-regarding rugby country on earth.