Eddie Jones believes Lions ‘immeasurably fitter’ than Wallabies who must ‘go big’ in series opener
Eddie Jones has urged the Wallabies to 'go big' in team selection against the Lions.
Former Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones reflects on the British and Irish Lions’ win over an AUNZ Invitational XV and predicts who might start the series opener.
The ex-England and current Japan boss is joining us throughout the Lions tour and here’s his thoughts after the weekend’s one-sided fixture in Adelaide.
Fitness key
Watching from afar in Japan I’ve been monitoring closely the form and fitness of the Lions 2025.
One of the things that’s really impressed me is the fitness of the squad and I’d go as far as to say that the Lions will be immeasurably fitter than the Wallabies given the time they’ve had together and the work they’ve done with the S&C coaches.
In the match against the AUNZ XV, their ability to keep going deep was clear, although you have to scratch your head as to the validity of that fixture. To me, it was less useful than a Barbarians romp in Easter. The team was scratch, unprepared and totally raw and I’m not sure what value that gives the Lions or the wider Aussie rugby public.
Rugby Australia (RA) really needs to rejuvenate and capture interest in Union; there’s massive competition for eyeballs down under with league, soccer and AFL all competing for market share and putting on a scratch team that has little recognition or allegiance for the Wallaby and Lions fanbase is pretty pointless.
For me, they’ve missed a golden chance to put on an Australia A fixture; something that would have had real resonance, could have fed into a wider training camp, thus future proofing selection. There’s a load of youngsters coming through that would’ve given their right arm to have a crack to nothing at the famous Lions and I believe that would have offered real value to both the Lions and RA. And it would also have given the supporters some cultural empathy. I think it would have been a better and closer game, offering Joe Schmidt a chance to find out a lot more about his peripheral squad.
Where are the Lions?
Part of me thinks the Lions don’t really know quite where they are in terms of form and selection. It’s easy to get carried away by the wins, but bluntly, the opposition hasn’t been that flash.
It’s like a cricket batter getting three or four successive 50s in knock-about games in the park, then facing Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah the following week. You know you’re hitting it well off the front foot against the pies in the park, but you’re now going up five or six levels in one step into a Test cauldron – getting rockets bounced around your ears and induckers around your toes – not ideal.
By saying that, at least the Lions have grooved their attacking game, but there’s still a lot of work to do around contact and in the aerial contest, two areas where they’ve not impressed so much despite not really being tested by elite opposition.
Go big
Which brings me onto that Aussie selection.
The selections that Joe will announce next week fascinate me. Schmidt is an ultimate rugby pragmatist and will be looking to design a winning plan around fairly limited resources. However, by saying that, there’s some obvious superpowers available to him, some areas of the Lions game to exploit, and those both stress the need for him to go big and go aerial.
The first Test will be Australia’s best chance to hit the Lions hard. They won’t know how the Wallabies will go and they’ll also respect the size available to Schmidt.
Go big – get the Skeltons and Tupous in; they’re both 50 minute players but they can be wrecking balls in those moments. The Aussie back-row is outstanding and has a lot of power, with Fraser McReight a truly exceptional openside as he demonstrated in the end-of-year Tests last year.
At half-back, Nic White’s ability to attack the tramlines with the boot and to get runners off his pass down the shortside is one of the superpowers I alluded to. Ben Donaldson is the man I’d start at 10. James O’Connor has been tried there before but he’s one of those amazing talents that work best off others, not with him leading the charge – in a similar way to how Marcus Smith is developing. Donaldson also means Australia have a top class kicking option off nine or 10 and given the threat the Wallabies have in their kick chase, that ability to play aerially off either half-back will be key.
Couple that with the Wallabies’ line-out and maul work, which is outstanding in both attack and defence, there’s a prospect that the first match will be an old fashioned arm wrestle of proper Test footy. Australia also have a chasing ace and a real differentiator in the brilliant 6’5″ and 105kg centre Joseph Suaalii and he has the ability to turn a Test match.
Above all, I’d be telling the Wallabies to go hard and to go high. Get the ball behind the Lions, one of the few things they’ve struggled with on tour, and get your chasers up hard and in a line to defend exit and pressure mistakes.
Lions selection
Test selection is a strange thing and often it’s not about picking individuals – it’s more so about picking complementary units. Garry Ringrose’s absence is a great example of this; had he been fit I’ve little doubt we’d have seen an all Irish centre combination, but now Garry is out, Huw Jones, a world class centre in his own right, comes in and for me, that means Sione Tuipulotu starts at 12, hooking up with the mature and brilliant Finn Russell to create an all Scots midfield.
It’s not about judging which player is better, it’s about which unit is better, and that has to be the Scottish guys who’ve played a lot of Tests together.
On the wings, I think Tommy Freeman has proven himself beyond doubt – but on the left side there’s a conundrum. Duhan van der Merwe is huge and knows the Scots midfield well, but he’s been awful in coping with kicks put in behind him, and has little exit strategy other than charging back with ball in hand. James Lowe might not have Duhan’s power, but you need a left footer in your backline and he’ll make you 60 and 70 metres once or twice a game – and that can be match changing.
The front-row selects itself with Genge, Sheehan and Furlong, but the balance of the back five is also key. Alongside Itoje it’ll be Beirne or McCarthy and I’d go for the latter for sheer muscle. But in the back-row, Lions have to go big – Chessum at six and Conan at eight for power, and then one of Tom Curry or Jac Morgan at seven. Morgan has been outstanding so far and there’s part of me that thinks that Welsh voice is a key part of Lions culture, but Curry would give you more power, so I’ll be interested to see where the Lions go.
Finishers key
My closing thoughts are around the advantage the Lions have in the last 30 with bench impact. To his credit, Andy Farrell has a lot of players in form – that means he has to select a 23 rather than simply naming a side, and there’s a subtle difference there. Australia have a number of 50/60 minute lumps, and don’t have the depth the Lions do off the bench.
That superpower might see the likes of Ben Earl, Henry Pollock, Duhan, Marcus Smith and others really creating chaos against tired and slower legs in the last quarter, and that also underlines my point that Australia need to go big and go early.
It will be a fascinating Test series and the first match is without question the Wallabies’ best chance. I’ll be watching with real interest especially since Japan have a couple of weekends off before our Pacific Nations fixtures at the end of August.
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