World Cup winner Jason Robinson is adamant fly-half Owen Farrell can start the first Test of the Lions tour of Australia this summer – provided he learns from his last international outing.

The 21-year-old wore the No.10 jersey in four of England’s Six Nations matches, only missing the clash with Italy through injury, as they fell one win short of winning their first Grand Slam since 2003.

England needed to beat Wales in their final fixture to achieve the feat but were beaten 30-3 in Cardiff as the hosts took the Six Nations crown with Farrell’s weaknesses at international level exposed.

Robinson, who was part of the last England squad to win the Grand Slam in 2003 before lifting the World Cup eight months later, admitted Farrell’s performance wasn’t one of his best.

However the double British & Irish Lion has warned against reading too much into it and believes Farrell can feature heavily Down Under as long as he takes on board the improvements needed.

“You don’t become a bad player overnight and Owen needs to remember this,” said Robinson. “He had a great tournament and he will be right up there in terms of the Lions.

“A lot of people got on his back after the Wales game, saying he looked out of sorts and everything.

"But how old is Owen? How far has he come in such a short space of time?

“He is great at kicking, strong in the tackle and mature for his age. He has been the real find for England this Six Nations and one bad performance shouldn’t shadow that.

“Of course he still has things to learn and he could offer more to England in attack as sometimes he looked a bit out of position and too far back but this will come with time.”

The Lions No.10 jersey is very much up for grabs with a foot injury appearing to ruin Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton’s hopes – a situation Robinson, who toured in 2001 and 2005, acknowledges.

However he fears Lions coach Warren Gatland may go with Wales’ Dan Biggar instead of Farrell with the result at the Millennium Stadium potentially too hard to look beyond.

“With the Lions coming up that was the game to perform. All eyes were on Cardiff and it needed two teams to perform and unfortunately only the one team performed,” he added.

“And as a result of that I am sure Warren can make his team up of a majority of Welsh players. How can he look elsewhere?

“England though have done some fantastic things and after a defeat you need to take a step back, take it on the chin and do the analysis.

“The Lions will be looking at Owen and I think the fly-half spot is interesting because with Sexton getting injured that spot is up for grabs with Biggar thrown in as well.”

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