George Gregan outlines the ‘challenge’ for Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies ahead of British & Irish Lions series as ‘important’ 12 months looms
Split with Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt and legend George Gregan.
George Gregan has spelt out the challenge rugby union in Australia faces to arrive at the British & Irish Lions Test series a year today as a force to be reckoned with.
19 July 2025 is a date circled in the diaries of tens of thousands of supporters planning to descend on Brisbane for the start of the best-of-three showdown with Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies.
Australian rugby hit rock bottom late last year when the national team suffered the humiliation of failing to survive the pool stages for the first time.
Losing to Fiji and being thrashed by Wales did so much damage that not only was head coach Eddie Jones replaced, fully nine months on fewer than 22,000 fans turned out for the Wallabies’ most recent game last weekend.
Important period
Gregan, Australia’s most-capped player, helped the Wallabies come from behind to beat the 2001 Lions the last time the Tom Richards Cup stayed Down Under.
He has more than a fair idea of what it takes to beat the combined strength of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales and warns: “These next 12 months are going to be so important for gathering interest, support and relevancy in rugby.
“If you don’t get that in sport in our country, in Australia, it’s four or five pages in [to the sports sections of newspapers] and maybe it’s not any pages in.
“It needs to be relevant. It needs to be on the back page. It needs to be potentially on the front page for good reasons. And then you go, ‘hello, we’ve got people behind our national team’.
“As an Australian, and obviously a very proud one, what national teams do I think of?” Gregan asked rhetorically.
“Definitely our cricketers. Our footballers now with Sam Kerr and the Matildas. They did a great job during the World Cup [reaching the semi-finals on home turf].
“And definitely the Wallabies, when they’re performing. And even when they’re not at Rugby World Cups there’s a real national affinity with the Wallabies.
“So the challenge for Joe Schmidt and his coaches and definitely the players is to get back to, not necessarily winning ways, but competitive, consistent performances at a high international level. Then live with the result.”
Schmidt, appointed on a two-year contract in succession to Jones, has made a good start with back-to-back victories against Wales, albeit a Welsh side winless since the World Cup and now just one loss from equalling its worst ever losing streak of 10.
“With someone like Joe in charge of the coaches and the coaches coaching those players moving forward, you’ll start seeing some positive results, I feel,” added Gregan.
“That’s important, to deliver in the next 12 months. And then you’ll get the support. They’re there. I’m a positive person but the reality is we’ve got to fix it in the next 12 months.”
Reputation rebuild
Fail to do so and concern will mount ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia and the host nation’s ability to restore their reputation in the tournament.
Gregan is one of rugby’s most thoughtful and articulate ambassadors. His concern for the sport goes further than the Wallabies whom he represented a record 139 times between 1994 and 2007.
On the day Australia lost one of its five franchised teams, with cash-crippled Melbourne Rebels axed from Super Rugby Pacific, the 51-year old took up the role as chair of the Global Rugby Players foundation.
The GRPF is a charity set up to support players who leave the sport either through retirement or unforeseen circumstance.
“You don’t always get to choose when you finish,” says the scrum-half great, referencing the Rebels and the loss of four top UK clubs in Worcester, Wasps, London Irish and Jersey.
“The careers of those players, through no choice of their own, have been ended. They might not be able to pick up other work.
“It’s concerning. [Rugby’s financial] model is reducing the number of teams in a lot of competitions. The reality is professional sport is a business and if you can’t sustain it you can’t keep going.
“That’s led to an excess of players. A lot of players and their families having to look at jobs elsewhere.”
Australia tomorrow play their final match ahead of the Rugby Championship against Georgia, with Isaac Kailea, until recently a Melbourne Rebel, one of 10 changes to the starting line-up.
Georgia is one of only two nations Jones’ Wallabies managed to beat in his nine outings in charge – a result they avenged last weekend when beating Jones’ new team, Japan, 25-23 in Sendai.
“We believe we’re putting a good side out and they’ll demonstrate that,” says Schmidt. “But I’m sure the Georgians will have something to say about that.”
