4 days ago
Stadium announcer calls Lions players ‘Aussie', ‘Kiwi' and ‘South African'
Australia continued their attack on the British and Irish Lions' overseas-born contingent via the team announcement over the tannoy ahead of the match against the Western Force.
At the Optus Stadium in Perth, a number of players were described as 'Aussie', 'Kiwi' or 'South African' as the Lions team was announced to the crowd of 40,000.
The descriptions included:
'The Aussie at No 14, Mack Hansen.'
'Another Aussie at No 12, Sione Tuipulotu.'
'The Kiwi now Irishman, James Lowe.'
'At prop, the former SA schoolboy now Scotsman, Pierre Schoeman.'
The eight-strong foreign-born contingent in the Lions squad has been a major talking point in the build-up to the tour.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt labelled the Lions' midfield pairing of Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu as a 'southern-hemisphere centre partnership' ahead of the tour opener against Argentina while David Campese called them the 'British and Irish and Pacific Island Lions' ahead of the Western Force game.
The selection of foreign-born players in Farrell's original squad sparked criticism from within Britain and Ireland, too.
Lions great Willie John McBride said their selection 'bothered' him, and after the additional call-up of tighthead prop Finlay Bealham – who was born in Australia – former England scrum-half Danny Care said their presence did not sit well with him.
Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, Aki, Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park all qualify to represent Scotland and Ireland respectively via the residency law. At the time they qualified, that rule stipulated a stay of three years in the country they were switching allegiance to but has subsequently been extended to five years.
Hansen, Tuipulotu and Bealham all qualify to represent their respective nations and Lions on ancestral grounds.
The Lions lost their first match of the tour to Argentina in Dublin with their match against the Western Force the first on Australian soil.
They will play nine matches in Australia with three against the Wallabies to decide the Test series.
