Wallabies confident but wary of wounded British and Irish Lions
PERTH - 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.
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