Andy Farrell explains snubbing son Owen from British and Irish Lions squad

has explained why he decided to leave his son out of the squad for the upcoming tour of Australia. The travelling squad was announced on Thursday in front of a live audience in London, with many of the best players from , , and making the cut. There were also some notable absentees, with Owen among the standout names left out of the group.

The former Saracens ace was a key member of the Lions squad which toured New Zealand four years ago. He has since withdrawn from England duty and plays his club rugby in France. Owen was thought to have been in contention to make the Lions squad but suffered a head injury while playing for Racing 92 last weekend.

Quizzed on why he decided against picking his son, Andy told that it was mainly due to fitness concerns. He opened the door for Owen to be called up at a later date, confirming that he is on the list of potential injury replacements.

"He was in the conversation obviously, an experienced player like that, going for his fourth tour," said Farrell.

"You cover all bases that's for sure in terms of the leadership qualities and all of that. We got to a point where, like a few other players, we feel that Owen's still trying to find his way a little bit back to fitness.

"There's 38 picked, which leaves a couple of slots open for us down the track if and when needed. Owen, like a few other guys, would be in that bracket."

Marcus Smith, Finn Russell and Fin Smith are the fly-halves in the Lions squad and will be hoping to steer clear of injuries between now and the start of the tour in June.

Asked what he likes about each of the fly-halves selected, Andy said: "If you look at Finn [Russell] and Fin [Smith], they're two fly-halves that play a fantastic brand of rugby.

"And Marcus [Smith], whether it be 10-15 [fly-half/full-back] or 15-10 [full-back/fly-half], that type of blend is pretty important. Just going for three out-and-out fly-halves is a different type of balance.

"We need to cover all bases in that regard, just as we have done with Elliot Daly and Tommy Freeman playing different positions. Yesterday morning I thought we'd box it [the full squad] off in an hour or so.

"We started at 8am and by 3pm we were still going, which says it all really. That's how it should be. It should be unbelievably difficult because it means we have a talented squad to go to Australia."