Wallabies confident but wary of wounded British and Irish Lions

New Straits Times

6 hours ago

SYDNEY: Australia coach Joe Schmidt is confident the Wallabies can be competitive against the British and Irish Lions, but he will be wary of a side wounded by defeat to Argentina in a Dublin warm-up.
Andy Farrell's squad arrive in Perth on Sunday evening already feeling pressure after a slick Pumas exploited their lack of familiarity and cohesion in a rousing 28-24 victory on Friday.
While far from the ideal send-off for a nine-game tour, which includes Tests in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, Farrell has time to fine tune.
He was without the bulk of his Leinster players against Argentina, and his options are a lot stronger now they are involved.
"We need to be a lot better than that. And we will. We'll dust ourselves off but that will concentrate the minds," he said.
The first Test in
Brisbane is not until July 19 after five lead-in games, starting against a Nic White-led Western Force on Saturday before meeting the Queensland Reds four days later.
Clashes against the NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies and a combined Australia-New Zealand XV will follow.
Lions skipper Maro Itoje said the loss to Argentina only served to highlight where they can improve.
"We showed glimmers of what we can do. But we did not consistently pile on the pressure. Argentina caught us napping sometimes," he said.
"We weren't accurate enough in some areas but when we looked good, we looked good."
Schmidt is intimately familiar with the Lions coaching staff, none more so than Farrell who was his right-hand man during a successful stretch as Ireland boss.
He will know how much the defeat hurt.
"I know a lot of those guys very well ... they'll be well coached, well organised and they have strength in depth," Schmidt said of the Lions, speaking before the Argentina match
"They can play in so many different ways, they can be really physical, they can be square and come at you, they can get you on the edges.
"We're going to have to be really well prepared."
Whether they are sufficiently prepared remains to be seen, with Australia's only warm-up a Test against Fiji on July 6.
Schmidt is also conscious that outside of his Brumbies cohort, who featured in the Super Rugby semi-finals, the bulk of his squad have not had a competitive game since late May.
He was initially said to be against members of his Test squad playing for their Super Rugby clubs against the Lions, to safeguard against injury, but appears to have relaxed his stance.
"One thing we're conscious of is making sure our clubs are competitive," said Schmidt.
"Some of these guys haven't played – it'll be four or five weeks since they'll have played. So to get a game under their belt before they actually come into Wallaby camp may be the most advantageous situation."
Schmidt was installed to restore Australia's reputation after they slumped to 10th in the world following a horror 2023 World Cup under Eddie Jones.
While credited with bringing stability and a new work ethic, the Wallabies are still only ranked eight and Schmidt's record of six wins and seven defeats is nothing to shout about.
But he is taking confidence from a last-gasp win over England at Twickenham in November and pushing Ireland to the limit in Dublin three weeks later.
"How confident are we of success against the Lions? I'm confident that we can be competitive," he said.
"And if we can be within a score of the Lions and there's five to go, then we're a chance."
When they last toured Australia in 2013, the Lions won the series 2-1 with Wallabies prop James Slipper the sole survivor.
Coached by Warren Gatland, the visitors clinched the first Test in Brisbane 23-21 before Australia battled back with a gutsy 16-15 win at Melbourne.
But it was all Lions in the Sydney decider, triumphing 41-16. It proved to be the last tour they won, drawing the series with New Zealand four years later and losing to South Africa in 2021.