Eddie Jones has pushed his affinity with an out-of-form Owen Farrell too far

It has been 10 years since Owen Farrell played his first Test for England, against Scotland at Murrayfield back at the start of the 2012 Six Nations. By the dog years in which rugby players measure their Test careers, that’s a lifetime or so ago. Ben Youngs is the only other player from that match who is still playing international rugby. Most of the rest moved on a long time ago, into second careers in or outside the sport. Farrell, 20, fresh faced and whippet thin, played at inside-centre that day. The Scottish fans booed him all game. It didn’t make any difference, he kicked eight points, and England won by seven.

If Eddie Jones’s plan works out, Farrell will be back there at Murrayfield in a fortnight’s time. It is, even by Jones’s standards, a particularly mulish bit of thinking. Farrell, who spent most of last year struggling to find his best form, hasn’t played a single minute of competitive rugby since he injured his ankle playing against Australia last autumn.

There are other regular players – Sam Underhill, Elliott Daly, Manu Tuilagi – who have been left out of the 36-man squad because they are still working their way back to match fitness after more recent injuries. But for Farrell, it doesn’t matter, he’s pencilled in, as captain, for the first game of the tournament.

Meanwhile another of Jones’s old favourites, George Ford, can’t get in the squad even though he was picked as Premiership player of the month once in October and then again in December.

The inconsistency is all the more conspicuous because England got on just fine without Farrell when they beat South Africa last autumn, with another survivor, Courtney Lawes, as captain, and a rearranged midfield of Marcus Smith, Tuilagi, (who was replaced by Joe