SYDNEY (AP) — Former England captain Owen Farrell was summoned by the British and Irish Lions to replace Elliot Daly on the tour of Australia on Thursday.
Daly broke his left forearm on Wednesday in the 52-12 win over the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.
“It is heartbreaking for the group that Elliot's tour is over,” Lions coach Andy Farrell said in a statement. "He is a Lions legend who has added so much to the group on and off the field over the past few weeks and over the course of three tours.
“Owen will now come in and add to our options and bring his own Lions experience to the group.”
Owen Farrell will join his fourth tour, having played 18 times for the Lions, including six tests across the 2013, 2017 and 2021 tours.
However, he hasn't played an international since leading England at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, after which he took a break from test rugby. He earned 112 England caps and is the team's all-time points record-holder.
Owen Farrell also hasn't played any rugby in two months. He was concussed on May 4 while playing for Racing 92 in his last game for the French Top 14 side. He recently signed a new deal to return to his old English club Saracens.
He won't arrive in Sydney until Friday, too late to be involved in the game against the New South Wales Waratahs on Saturday.
Tadhg Beirne will lead the Lions, returning to the second row to partner fellow Ireland lock James Ryan.
Fullback Hugo Keenan, wing Blair Kinghorn and reserve scrumhalf Ben White will make their Lions debuts.
Keenan was withdrawn from the Queensland game after falling ill, which prompted Daly’s inclusion and ill luck. Kinghorn joined the Lions only on Monday after helping Toulouse win the Top 14 title last weekend. White arrived this week after the tour-ending injury to Tomos Williams.
Northampton clubmates Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith are the halves and Scotland duo Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones are the centers.
Lions: Hugo Keenan (Ireland), Mack Hansen (Ireland), Huw Jones (Scotland), Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland), Blair Kinghorn (Scotland), Fin Smith (England), Alex Mitchell (England); Ben Earl (England), Josh van der Flier (Ireland), Henry Pollock (England), James Ryan (Ireland), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland, captain), Finlay Bealham (Ireland), Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), Pierre Schoeman (Scotland). Reserves: Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Ellis Genge (England), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Joe McCarthy (Ireland), Scott Cummings (Scotland), Jac Morgan (Wales), Ben White (Scotland), Marcus Smith (England).
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
FILE - British and Irish Lions' Owen Farrell kicks a penalty during a warm-up rugby match between South Africa Lions and British and Irish Lions at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
Elliot Daly of the British & Irish Lions runs to score a try during their rugby match against the Western Force in Perth, Australia, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Trevor Collens)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, saying they had exchanged a friendly phone call and he’d even invited the leader of the South American country to the White House.
“It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Trump posted on his social media site. “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future.”
He wrote that the upcoming meeting would take place at the White House.
That came mere days after Trump said in the wake of the U.S. operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend that “Colombia is very sick too” and accused Petro of ”making cocaine and selling it to the United States."
In comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump added of Petro, “He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.” Asked whether U.S. intervention was possible, Trump responded, ”Sounds good to me.”
Trump now suddenly warming to Petro is especially surprising since Colombia’s president called the U.S. operation in Venezuela an “abhorrent” violation of Latin American sovereignty. He also suggested it was committed by “enslavers” and constituted a “spectacle of death” comparable to Nazi Germany’s 1937 carpet bombing of Guernica, Spain.
Colombia has long been among America’s staunchest Latin American allies, a pillar of Washington’s counternarcotics strategy abroad. For three decades, the U.S. has worked closely with Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, to arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups and boost economic development in rural areas.
Still, before Trump's conciliatory post, tensions had been rising between the U.S. and Colombia for months.
The Trump administration imposed sanctions in October on Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade. Colombia is considered the epicenter of the world’s cocaine trade.
Trump began his monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro by ordering dozens of lethal strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats launched from Venezuela in the Caribbean. He eventually expanded the operations to also target suspected vessels in the eastern Pacific that came from Colombia.
The U.S. in September added Colombia, the top recipient of American assistance in the region, to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years. The designation led to a slashing of U.S. assistance to the country.
“He has cocaine mills and cocaine factories," Trump said of Petro on Sunday. "He’s not going to be doing it.”
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Colombian president's name.
Supporters of Colombian President Gustavo Petro attend a rally he called to protest comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
