Wallabies coach full of praise for Jake Gordon ahead of British and Irish Lions tour

Joe Schmidt has detailed why Jake Gordon is Wallabies captaincy material, while conceding individual form will trump team performances when selectors sit down to pick a squad to topple the touring British and Irish Lions.
Gordon's emergence as a frontrunner to lead the Wallabies in the showpiece three-Test series against the Lions has raised eyebrows due to the NSW skipper missing several games during his team's failure to make the Super Rugby Pacific finals for a second straight season.
ABC Sport will have live blog coverage of the British and Irish Lions' tour of Australia this July and August.
But coach Schmidt was glowing in his praise when asked about the halfback's captaincy credentials.
"Jake, he's one of the leaders in the group," Schmidt told reporters during a visit to the Western Force's training hub in Perth.
"So is Nic White, so there's a few halfbacks … and Tate McDermott has been a former [Wallabies] captain, so of the nines we had last year, they're all leaders within the group.
"Jake is a really good skill set, mature player, [has a] very nice kicking game, one of the sharper passers around, and he is utterly committed when he's on the grass.
"His ability to cover corners and make tackles, be involved in the physical stuff, he's a multi-purpose sort of player.
"But the sharp edge of his game is really his pass-kick … [They] were very helpful to us last year."
Schmidt will name a squad of up to 40 players before the Wallabies' first Test of the year against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6.
But the Kiwi mentor said his squad would not necessarily be dominated by the ACT Brumbies, Australia's last team standing in the Super Rugby Pacific competition.
Schmidt promised he was looking at a raft of players from all four Australian franchises.
"Results are fickle," he said of the topsy-turvy Super Rugby season.
"The Wallabies will be judged on them, but there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, and there's a lot of moments in games that decide results.
"An individual can stack up plenty of good moments in a game where they've performed really well, and sometimes the team doesn't get the results.
"So we're probably anchored to results. We're anchored more around performance and individual performance in a team context, definitely.
"You know that you've got to be connected with your teammates because that's one of the beauties of the game. It's so interdependent.
"You're reliant on the guys up front doing the job so you can get the space out the back. A guy like Mac Grealy or Harry Potter or Dylan Pietsch, they can't do a lot in space if the boys up front aren't doing their job."
The Force will be the first Australian side to tackle the Lions at Perth Stadium on June 28.
AAP

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‘Bash them': The Anzac team tasked with softening up Lions for Wallabies

The Age

29 minutes ago

The Age

‘Bash them': The Anzac team tasked with softening up Lions for Wallabies

While no players have yet been confirmed for the 2025 AUNZ Invitation side, former All Blacks coach Ian Foster has been appointed as an assistant. And Kiss said he envisaged there being a healthy number of New Zealanders, alongside a contingent of Australian players either released from the Wallabies squad or picked from the state sides. 'I'd imagine anywhere from six to ten New Zealanders at least and the rest will be open,' Kiss said on Stan's Rugby Heaven. 'There's talk about probably making sure we have enough avenue for Wallabies players to have access to that game, particularly as it's the last major match before the Test series starts. No doubt there's going to be some moves in that area to get some players in there, to be able to give them more game time, and [give] Joe [Schmidt] and the coaching team at the Wallabies more insight to what they're looking at in terms of their players. 'Make no mistake, we want to try and get that quality in, for sure, [but] in the right positions that allow us to expose the players that we want to. We don't want to close out any opportunities for our [Australian] guys in certain positions. So, those discussions will be ongoing, and we need to be fluid right to the last minutes.' With the AUNZ game scheduled as the last tour game before the first Test in Brisbane a week later, the Lions will almost certainly deploy the first-choice team they intend to use at Suncorp Stadium. When putting the 2025 tour schedule together, the Lions management were at pains to say they didn't want to play a quasi fourth Test against an Australia 'A' side. In a hard-fought and feisty clash in 2001, an Australia A side coached by Eddie Jones rolled the Lions in Gosford, and several other tour matches also saw the Lions cop mountains of aggression and physicality from the Australian state sides. Though it may have a festival vibe, Kiss said there would be a huge intensity to the AUNZ-Lions clash and the hosts will also be looking to do their part to help the Wallabies a week later. Loading 'I think if you look at what the possibilities could be in terms of personalities in that squad, there's going to be a lot of competitive people there. They'll want to do something special themselves,' Kiss said. 'I can't see anything but a super competitive battle, really. They're going to be loaded. They're very physical, very talented right across the squad. We'll do our best to get out there and bash them, for sure. 'We want to make sure we make it an enjoyable experience, but get out there and make sure we do a job that can soften the Lions up a bit for us.'