Farrell’s Lions missed out on a whitewash but the head coach has been well liked by his squad and got a lot of bold calls right

The Lions were unbeaten through their first eight matches of the summer and came from behind to clinch the Australia series in the second Test, but fell to a 22-12 defeat in Sydney in their final tour outing.

The Lions chief executive on Sunday said the appointment process for the New Zealand tour would not start until two years out but made it clear that Farrell was the frontrunner to take charge.