Johnny Sexton’s Brilliant Quip To Warren Gatland On Owen Farrell & The Lions 10 Jersey

The real battle for number 10.

Owen Farrell has made it known to Warren Gatland on several occasions that he sees himself as a 10 as opposed to a 12. The Saracens man has been deployed at 10 for his club and it’s safe to say he’s done a pretty good job there.

He was recently crowned European Player of Year and played a starring role as Saracens lifted their second successive Champions Cup. On the other hand however, he’s been devastating at 12 for England as they picked up consecutive Six Nations titles.

So does he start at 10 or 12 for the Lions? Normally that would be easy to answer, but when you’ve got another ten as good as Johnny Sexton in your squad, it perhaps makes sense to try and get both of them into your starting line-up. The question is does Warren Gatland see it as a straight shoot-out between the two or will he play both?

Speaking ahead of their opening tour game this Saturday, Gatland revealed that he called over the three tens (Biggar, Sexton, Farrell) in the squad for a chat at a recent training session.

“It was quite funny last week at the end of the training, I just said I would have a chat to the 10s. Dan was there and Johnny Sexton was there, and Owen was over there and Johnny said, ‘Don’t worry about him, he’s a midfielder!’

“There’s already a bit of banter about and the players are very aware of the competition in that position, so they’ll get a chance, the three of them, to start. Johnny starts on Saturday and then the other two will start the next two games.”

Sexton/Farrell at 10 and 12 it is then.