Lions star Owen Farrell put to the ultimate goal-kicking test

IF the Wallabies are looking to put Lions star Owen Farrell off his kicking game, they might consider a helicopter floating above the stadium.

IF the Wallabies are looking to put Lions star Owen Farrell off his kicking game, they might want to consider a helicopter floating above Suncorp Stadium. Or even a bunch of air hostesses delivering his kicking tee.

Those are the available clues offered from a left-field training session Farrell and Lions teammates George North and Jamie Roberts recently underwent in Austria.

As part of PR stunt by sponsors Red Bull at Hangar 7 in Salzburg, the trio were put through extreme challenges to test their capacity to stay calm under pressure.

North jumped in a helicopter doing death rolls and Roberts flew in a jet, but Farrell’s task was far harder: trying to kick goals with high velocity distractions.

Video of the challenge shows Farrell attempting to kick goals while attractive hosties circled him (he missed), with a NASCAR doing burnouts around him (converted) and with a jet engine blowing in front of him (also converted).

The downdraft of a helicopter hovering just metres above Farrell’s head was the toughest, though. He missed six goals before nailing one.

“I had never kicked in conditions like it,” Farrell said on the Red Bull website. “The wind swirling around my head and the fact a helicopter was hovering just over my shoulder, made it a real test to focus on what I needed to do. I had to raise my concentration levels to blank the distractions out. It was tough, but we got there in the end.”

In 2001, it was gold scarves. Australian Rugby Union, it appears the ante has been raised. Is there any mention of hovering helicopters in the IRB rulebook?