These Lions are mired in a mess of handling errors, looking more like a pub team on tour than the cream of British and Irish rugby, and they have two weeks and maybe one run-out for the Test line-up to sort it out before they enter the big showdown with Australia.
Or does the 33-year-old still have the capacity to do it even more directly, on the field of play?
Farrell’s father Andy, the Lions head coach, said the new arrival is unlikely to feature in the next match against the Brumbies on Wednesday, which just leaves the Anzac XV in Adelaide next Saturday before the first Test.
Owen Farrell getting jokingly booed by his team-mates pic.twitter.com/tvWnDOumH1
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) July 5, 2025The point about the Lions’ current predicament is, whoever does turn out for them must stop making excuses and start mending the 14 handling errors against the Waratahs.
This writer has huge admiration for Tuipulotu and that is why it is perplexing and worrying to see the number of spills surrounding him in his Lions appearances, either giving or taking unsympathetic or misdirected passes.
Scotland centre Huw Jones scored two tries in the first half (Photo: AP)
Always, we have to factor in the Lions concept being partly about melding players from different teams and styles.
Even when the formation clicks, the edge attacker is being left isolated in ways the full-blown Wallabies – rather than their half-baked Super Rugby teams – will swoop on with relish.
Andy Farrell rightly bemoaned “so much dropped ball and turnovers”.
The Lions need to stop imagining and start doing, and the good news is they have the quality to do it, with or without their much-publicised latest call-up on the field.
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Also we saw very little kicking out of hand in this latest warm-up – a tactical ploy maybe kept in reserve, and therefore putting increased emphasis on the handling.
And the Lions’ 12th-minute try from a short line-out drive, with Tuipulotu feeding his Scotland colleague Jones with a close-range pass, showed what we love about the “Huwipulotu” combination.
Kinghorn being stripped on the ground on 37 minutes was another isolated incident.
Some might say his presence will simply unsettle the likes of Fin Smith, who struggled with his line-kicking against the Waratahs, and Marcus Smith who came on at fly-half, pushed for the maximum gain from a penalty to touch, and woefully kicked it dead.
Australia showed when they beat England at Twickenham in November that even when they are ranked eighth in the world, they can punish a team who offers them easy possession.
The Lions cannot allow that to be the tale of the first Test, in 2025.
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