‘You've got to toughen up': Lynagh battered but not beaten
Post-game, Lynagh claimed he was 'still shaking with adrenaline' from the experience but he clearly processes the hormone well, given his relaxed demeanour and a revelation he felt no nerves before the game.
Again, seemingly like his father, Tom Lynagh said he was not someone who gets overawed before a match, even if it is a starting Test debut at no.10 against the Lions at a sold-out Suncorp. And with the name Lynagh, and a nation, on his back.
'I've always sort of been like that. I just try to be as relaxed as possible and keep a calm head,' Lynagh said.
'No point to prove, just go out there and play my game. It was incredible experience. It's my first time playing at Suncorp when it's packed out.
'It's always something I wanted to do and follow in Dad's footsteps. So, I'm living the dream now. It's a proud moment for myself and my family.'
The Lynaghs became the first father and son in history to both play Tests against the Lions.
Asked about being physically targeted, Lynagh said: 'It's part of the job, mate. You've got to toughen up for games like this. You can't shy away from anything.
'My position, my build, it's an easy target and I know that. I've got to have my game where it's at that level. It's just my job.'
Lynagh debuted last year but struggled with back and hamstring injuries, and wasn't selected for the spring tour. He went on Queensland's tour of Japan instead, and also joined Australia A in England.
'I don't think my body was ready last year. I struggled getting on the field a lot of the time. But to be in and around that environment and actually have a few caps in my name … I really thrived from that,' he said.
'I didn't make [the] spring tour, but went away with the Reds in Japan. I felt like a different person over there and took that to Super Rugby this year.'
Lynagh, who grew up in England but moved to Queensland after school, said he always felt Australian but admitted his path being blocked at Harlequins by Lions rival Marcus Smith was a factor.
The Wallabies now move to Melbourne, where they must win or the series is lost. There is a lot of improvement required, said McDermott.
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'We came here with a goal and we didn't achieve it. But we've got to get on the horse quick. We've only got six days to prepare for what's coming. It's going to be one of the biggest games of our lives,' he said.
Unsuprisingly, the sanguine Lynagh is not panicking: 'We'll work away during the week. We've still got another two game. The series is still in the balance. It's not over yet.'

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Sydney Morning Herald
25 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘It's a huge upset': Beating the USA in a relay is sweet. Australia's underdog swimmers just did it twice in 15 minutes
There were nerves. Mollie O'Callaghan, tasked with the opening leg, fumbled her goggles on the blocks. No Cate Campbell. No Emma McKeon. No Shayna Jack. This was one of the least experienced quartets Australia had fielded in years, having won Olympic gold in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2024. O'Callaghan (52.79), an individual 100m freestyle world champion in 2023, fired off a great first leg before Meg Harris (51.87 split) held the lead. From there, it was down to newcomers Milla Jansen and Wunsch — both highly rated but no one really knew if they really had it in them to propel Australia home. That they did as Jansen (52.89 split) kept Australia in front before Wunsch (53.05), channelling Ian Thorpe on Gary Hall Jr, surged past the USA's Torri Huske in the final strokes to secure gold in 3:30.60 — 0.44 seconds clear of the Americans. The Australian coaches' area erupted at the sight of a young team digging deep when it mattered. 'It was very daunting,' O'Callaghan said. 'All of us were quite nervous. I'm very confident in these girls.' Wunsch added: 'I just wanted to power home and give it all I had. And it's really exciting to be able to stand up with the gold medals.' The Americans declined to detail the impact of illness in their camp, but butterfly world record holder Gretchen Walsh withdrew an hour before the race. 'I don't really want to speak on how much it's affected us or who it's affected,' Huske said. 'But we've done a really good job staying resilient and staying positive.' The Australian men have often lived in the shadow of their female counterparts, despite winning the same event at the 2023 world titles in Fukuoka. This time, their task was even tougher on paper. At their staging camp in Darwin, Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor, Max Giuliani and Chalmers sat down to plot a path to victory. They knew it would take something special. They did it in 2023 at the world championships but had to settle for silver at last year's Olympics. Southam (47.77) set the tone before Taylor unleashed a sizzling 47.04 split in front of his mother, Australian Olympian Hayley Lewis, in the stands. Giuliani (47.63) got Australia into third, and then came Chalmers who delivered a devastating final split of 46.53 to motor the Dolphins home over a highly fancied American team. As Chalmers sliced through the water, his teammates smashed the starting blocks with their hands and willed the veteran to the wall. This was swimming theatre at its finest. Australia finished in 3:08.97, just 0.73 seconds outside the USA's world record from 2008. Italy (3:09.58) pipped the USA (3:09.64) for bronze. Then came even more celebrations, as Dean Boxall and head coach Rohan Taylor mobbed those around them in jubilant scenes. Australia weren't expected to come close but landed a 1-2 blow on their American rivals. 'The goal for us was just to give Kyle a puncher's shot,' Southam said. 'That was what we did. We all did our job extraordinarily well. 'The girls are so incredibly deep and strong, so we wanted to be part of that. We may not be the most talented on paper ... but we get in there and we have the underdog mentality. That was so awesome.' Loading Asked if he thought the USA were shocked by the result, Chalmers said: 'I think it's a huge upset and we prove that time and time again. Every year you read the articles and people write us off. 'We have a point to prove and swim with a chip on our shoulder a little bit, to be honest with you. 'It's not just about the US, but it was nice to get a hand on the wall first tonight and hear the Australian anthem is so special.' The Americans, meanwhile, were licking their wounds after failing to win a gold medal on night one — a rare sight for the swimming powerhouse, who last year also endured their worst Olympic gold haul in the pool since 1988. 'We're tough,' US swimmer Chris Guiliano said. 'We've got some dogs on this team.'

The Age
25 minutes ago
- The Age
‘It's a huge upset': Beating the USA in a relay is sweet. Australia's underdog swimmers just did it twice in 15 minutes
There were nerves. Mollie O'Callaghan, tasked with the opening leg, fumbled her goggles on the blocks. No Cate Campbell. No Emma McKeon. No Shayna Jack. This was one of the least experienced quartets Australia had fielded in years, having won Olympic gold in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2024. O'Callaghan (52.79), an individual 100m freestyle world champion in 2023, fired off a great first leg before Meg Harris (51.87 split) held the lead. From there, it was down to newcomers Milla Jansen and Wunsch — both highly rated but no one really knew if they really had it in them to propel Australia home. That they did as Jansen (52.89 split) kept Australia in front before Wunsch (53.05), channelling Ian Thorpe on Gary Hall Jr, surged past the USA's Torri Huske in the final strokes to secure gold in 3:30.60 — 0.44 seconds clear of the Americans. The Australian coaches' area erupted at the sight of a young team digging deep when it mattered. 'It was very daunting,' O'Callaghan said. 'All of us were quite nervous. I'm very confident in these girls.' Wunsch added: 'I just wanted to power home and give it all I had. And it's really exciting to be able to stand up with the gold medals.' The Americans declined to detail the impact of illness in their camp, but butterfly world record holder Gretchen Walsh withdrew an hour before the race. 'I don't really want to speak on how much it's affected us or who it's affected,' Huske said. 'But we've done a really good job staying resilient and staying positive.' The Australian men have often lived in the shadow of their female counterparts, despite winning the same event at the 2023 world titles in Fukuoka. This time, their task was even tougher on paper. At their staging camp in Darwin, Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor, Max Giuliani and Chalmers sat down to plot a path to victory. They knew it would take something special. They did it in 2023 at the world championships but had to settle for silver at last year's Olympics. Southam (47.77) set the tone before Taylor unleashed a sizzling 47.04 split in front of his mother, Australian Olympian Hayley Lewis, in the stands. Giuliani (47.63) got Australia into third, and then came Chalmers who delivered a devastating final split of 46.53 to motor the Dolphins home over a highly fancied American team. As Chalmers sliced through the water, his teammates smashed the starting blocks with their hands and willed the veteran to the wall. This was swimming theatre at its finest. Australia finished in 3:08.97, just 0.73 seconds outside the USA's world record from 2008. Italy (3:09.58) pipped the USA (3:09.64) for bronze. Then came even more celebrations, as Dean Boxall and head coach Rohan Taylor mobbed those around them in jubilant scenes. Australia weren't expected to come close but landed a 1-2 blow on their American rivals. 'The goal for us was just to give Kyle a puncher's shot,' Southam said. 'That was what we did. We all did our job extraordinarily well. 'The girls are so incredibly deep and strong, so we wanted to be part of that. We may not be the most talented on paper ... but we get in there and we have the underdog mentality. That was so awesome.' Loading Asked if he thought the USA were shocked by the result, Chalmers said: 'I think it's a huge upset and we prove that time and time again. Every year you read the articles and people write us off. 'We have a point to prove and swim with a chip on our shoulder a little bit, to be honest with you. 'It's not just about the US, but it was nice to get a hand on the wall first tonight and hear the Australian anthem is so special.' The Americans, meanwhile, were licking their wounds after failing to win a gold medal on night one — a rare sight for the swimming powerhouse, who last year also endured their worst Olympic gold haul in the pool since 1988. 'We're tough,' US swimmer Chris Guiliano said. 'We've got some dogs on this team.'


Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
Double golden joy as Australia triumph at world champs
Australia have ended the opening night of the swimming world championships with a dose of double golden joy after the country's men and women prevailed in the 4x100m freestyle relay events. The night started with heartbreak, with Australian Sam Short falling agonisingly short of adding a second world title to his name when pipped by German world record holder Lukas Maertens in a thrilling 400m men's freestyle showdown in Singapore. But the relay events proved to be Australia's saviour. First, Olivia Wunsch pulled off a huge late comeback to fire Australia to an upset victory over the US in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. Then Kyle Chalmers achieved the same result for Australia's men, reeling in a sizeable lead from the US to snare gold. The Australian coaching staff celebrated wildly upon each victory. Australia entered Sunday night's 4x100m women's relay with a new-look team featuring Mollie O'Callaghan, Meg Harris, Milla Jansen and Wunsch. The US were favourites to win, but Australia threw a spanner into the works by clawing their way into the lead by the time Wunsch dived into the water for the final leg. American Torri Huske quickly re-took the lead and held a half length margin with 50m remaining before Woods came storming home to snatch victory. Australia finished in a time of 3:30.60, with the US (3:31.04) in second. Earlier, in the first medal event of the championships, Short overcame an early deficit to hit the lead with less than half the race remaining. The 21-year-old still led by a fingernail with 50m to go, and was neck-and-neck with Maertens right until the end. Short, the 2023 world champion who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, couldn't hide his disappointment upon touching the wall and seeing he lost by two hundredths of a second. Maertens, the Olympic champion, posted 3:42.35 to narrowly beat Short (3:42.37). South Korea's Kim Woomin finished third in 3:42.60. "I won two years ago by 0.02 and today I just lost by 0.02," Short told channel 9. "I'm happy to be back on the podium after a hard last year. So, you know, I can't complain. "I just want to dedicate that performance there to my auntie who passed away a couple weeks ago, "As bad I was hurting there, it's nowhere near as bad as her battling cancer for 10 years. "So I had to toughen up and get it done." Australian Olympic silver medallist Elijah Winnington failed to qualify for the final of the 400m freestyle after posting a time of 3:46.37 to finish 10th overall during the preliminary sessions earlier in the day. In a stacked women's 400m freestyle field, Australian Lani Pallister (3:58.87) produced a personal-best effort but it was only enough to finish fourth. Canadian world record holder Summer McIntosh (3:56.26) blitzed the field to win gold, China's Li Bingjie surged late to finish second, while the legendary Katie Ledecky had to be content with bronze. Australia's 400m Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus didn't feature after deciding to skip the world championships to give herself a mental and physical breather.