{"id":201721,"date":"2025-06-21T05:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T05:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201721\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T05:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T05:16:10","slug":"owen-farrells-lions-punditry-debut-sparks-big-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201721\/","title":{"rendered":"Owen Farrell\u2019s Lions Punditry Debut Sparks Big Reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Owen Farrell made his debut as a Sky Sports pundit pitchside at the Aviva Stadium as the British &amp; Irish Lions opened their summer series against Argentina.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>RUCK\u2019s <\/strong>Lions content is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/4mU32Vm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">powered by\u00a0<strong>ISUZU<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The former England skipper was a surprise omission from the touring squad after a stop-start first season at Racing 92, hampered by injuries and inconsistent form. But Lions boss Andy Farrell\u2014his father\u2014has left the door ajar for a potential late call-up.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, the 33-year-old has joined Sky\u2019s heavyweight punditry line-up for the 10-match tour. The broadcaster is once again the main partner of the Lions, despite scaling back its wider rugby union coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Farrell, who has often faced intense and sometimes unfair scrutiny during his career, won over viewers with a composed and insightful pitchside debut. His performance was praised for its clarity, honesty, and depth of understanding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Social media was quick to react:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDidn\u2019t expect to say this but Owen Farrell is an\u00a0excellent\u00a0pundit. Clear, thoughtful, and no ego.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFair play to Farrell. Gets hammered on the pitch, but he just delivered one of the best breakdowns of the Lions backline I\u2019ve heard in years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOwen Farrell pitchside is better than half the studio regulars. Refreshing to hear someone who\u2019s actually played at that level speak with honesty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlways rated him as a player. Might rate him even higher now after that punditry debut.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFarrell\u2019s analysis was class. Can see why he captained England\u2014guy just\u00a0knows\u00a0the game inside out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>EDITORS PICKS:<\/p>\n<p>Full list of referee\u2019s for the 2025 British &amp; Irish Lions tour:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fri 20 June 2025<br \/>The Lions vs Argentina<\/strong>\u00a0referee (Dublin)<br \/>Referee: James Doleman (NZ)<br \/>ARs: Nika Amashukeli (Geo) &amp; Andrea Piardi (Ita)<br \/>TMO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)<br \/>FPRO: Matteo Liperini (Ita)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sat 28 Jun 2025<br \/>Western Force v B&amp;I Lions<\/strong>\u00a0(Perth)<br \/>Referee: Ben O\u2019Keeffe (NZ)<br \/>ARs: Paul Williams (NZ) &amp; James Doleman (NZ)<br \/>TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)<br \/>FPRO: Glenn Newman (NZ)<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/owen-farrells-lions-punditry-debut-sparks-big-reaction\/2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CONTINUES ON PAGE TWO<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Owen Farrell made his debut as a Sky Sports pundit pitchside at the Aviva Stadium as the British&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114719659382602833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}