Wallabies sharpen claws for the Lions

THE Wallabies whitewashed. The Lions enjoying the closest thing in Test match rugby union to a stroll in the park.

That was the outcome widely predicted for the 2025 Lions series against Australia after the Wallabies disastrous 2023 World Cup pool exit under Eddie Jones.

It remained so until a few weeks ago when Joe Schmidt kicked off his tenure as Wallaby head coach. When the well-travelled-Kiwi began with three wins in succession, over Wales twice, and Georgia, predictions of a triumphal march through Australia by some Lions fans and pundits became more muted.

Quite right too. With a year to go until the tour it's worth remembering that in the modern era the Lions have never had it easy in Australia. They won 2-1 by the finest of margins in 1989, and 12 years later in 2001 lost 2-1 in a similarly close call. When the Lions toured next in 2013 it again went down to the final Test, with Warren Gatland's team going into overdrive to take the series 2-1 in front of an 83,000 crowd at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

This time, the Lions will arrive with Australian rugby union on the rocks due to dwindling profile and falling playing numbers. This has followed a sustained offensive for hearts and minds by Australian rules (AFL), and rugby league (NRL), as well as by round-ball football.

It has left Australian rugby union in desperate need of uplift – and the idea of a no-contest series would be a disaster for the Wallabies. It would also do nothing to enhance the tradition of Lions tours being rich canvases of fierce competitiveness and great sporting drama.

It is still early steps, but the good tour news is that Schmidt has credentials to turn Australia into a team which ensures that the 2025 series is no Lions procession.

Schmidt has his critics, mainly because he favours a tightly-structured ‘method' form of coaching, but his track-record speaks for itself. He had his first big success in Ireland by taking Leinster to two successive European Cup titles (2011, 2012), before landing the Ireland job.

In almost seven years as Ireland head coach (2013-19) he took them to their third Grand Slam in 2018, as well as to two further Six Nations titles. There were also multiple victories over each of the southern hemisphere big three on his watch, and this lifted Ireland to the top of the World Rugby Rankings in 2019.

After the Irish 2019 World Cup quarter-final exit Schmidt returned to New Zealand, where he was made a national selector, and then became All Black attack coach under Ian Foster leading into the 2023 World Cup.

One of Schmidt's first moves on becoming Wallaby coach was to appoint his fellow countryman, Mike Cron, the double World Cup-winning All Blacks scrum doctor, as an assistant coach.

Cron's influence has brought an immediate benefit in terms of improving a chronically wobbly Wallaby scrum. Cron has gone on the front foot, lavishing praise on Taniela Tupou, the immensely strong but injury-prone Wallaby tighthead, after the two recent wins over Wales.

“Head coach Joe Schmidt has the credentials to turn Aussies into a team to challenge Lions”

Cron said: “I don't think I've coached anyone that's more powerful”. Then, with a nod to referees, he indicated he would employ best scrummaging practice to help Tupou to progress. “You just have to keep working on good technique, and consistent technique… (and) keep things legal and powerful.”

Cron noted that the 21-stone Tupou – nicknamed the “Tongan Thor” since schooldays – is as flexible as he is explosive, including being able to do the splits, before commenting that there is more to come: “I reckon he's got another big ceiling to get to”.

Further good news for the new Wallaby coaching team is the recovery of loosehead Angus Bell from a recurrent foot injury ahead of their opening game of the Rugby Championship against South Africa in Perth on Saturday. The 6ft 4in, 20st Bell has shown, like Tupou, that he is an impressive scrummager, as well as a handful when he carries in the loose.

If Bell and Tupou make gains under Cron's tutelage they are capable of giving any Lions front row combination a stern test – and the threat of a genuine Wallaby powerplay does not end there.

Australia have a potential second row combination which could bring together two of the biggest physical specimens in the sport, because Nick Frost and Will Skelton are a different dimension to the likely Lions pairings.

Frost, who is 6ft 9in and 19st, definitely falls into the athlete-lock category, with his Wallaby pen portrait asserting that, “Frost is Australia's most athletically gifted lock since the great John Eales”.

The comparison with Eales, double world champion former Wallaby captain and second row legend, is some accolade. However Frost, a former Australian age-group pentathlon champion and discus thrower, has already showcased his ground-eating stride and lineout skills in 15 Tests since his Wallaby debut in 2022.

The pairing of Frost, 24, with the seasoned Skelton, 32, must be a tantalising prospect for Cron as two mighty pillars on which to base a Wallaby set-piece rebuild.

This makes the omission of the Skelton (6ft 8in, 22st) from Schmidt's Rugby Championship squad hard to fathom – especially as there was no notification that the massive La Rochelle mauler was unavailable.

Schmidt is clearly hoping to launch a new-look Wallaby backline at the Lions, hence his selection of exciting young backs like Max Jorgensen, Dylan Pietsch, Josh Flook, and Hamish Stewart in the Rugby Championship squad. It also includes Tom Lynagh, the 21-year-old Reds fly-half, and younger son of Wallaby great Michael Lynagh, in Australia's current problem position.

They will need a heavy-duty base to play from – and if Schmidt requires any reminder of Skelton's game-changing attributes a quick run through the tapes of La Rochelle's two European Cup final victories over Leinster will put him right.