Joe Schmidt addresses ‘swipe’ at British and Irish Lions foreign-born stars
British and Irish Lions Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu and an inset of Joe Schmidt.
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt has clarified his comments on British and Irish Lions centres Sione Tuipulotu and Bundee Aki.
Last week, Schmidt was asked for his reaction to Andy Farrell’s first teamsheet with the Lions taking on Argentina in Dublin.
Schmidt clarifies comments
Farrell selected New Zealand-born Aki and Australian-born Tuipulotu in the B&I Lions midfield, which caught the eye of the Wallabies boss.
“A southern-hemisphere centre partnership that will be pretty formidable,” Schmidt remarked.
“Obviously, I coached Bundee for several years and know him really well, respect him massively as a player and a great contributor to the team environment.
“I’ve only had glancing conversations with Sione, but again, by all accounts, a champion bloke. You don’t get to be captain of a national team without being a great bloke and a really professional in those high-performance environments.
“They are real athletes, those two together, so that’ll be really interesting.”
Schmidt’s comment of a ‘southern-hemisphere centre partnership’ was frowned upon by the British and Irish media, with many believing that he was taking a ‘swipe’ at the duo’s switch of national allegiance.
The inclusion of foreign-born players in Farrell’s touring squad has been a hot topic, with the head coach also selecting South African-born Scotland internationals Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe.
Prop Finlay Bealham and winger Mack Hansen are two other players who were born in Australia, with New Zealander James Lowe also included.
Legendary Wallaby David Campese has slammed the selection, while Schoeman has waded into the debate as well.
However, Schmidt has clarified his comment about the Lions’ midfielders, explaining that it was a sloppy choice of words and that he was not criticising the selection of foreign-born players.
“Bundee is one of the players I’ve so enjoyed coaching, and I’d have so much respect for that fella, that wasn’t supposed to be a swipe or a jibe at all,” Schmidt told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“In fact, it was sloppy from me because someone had just been talking to me and described it as that, and then I used their words, and I should have just stuck to my own words and said, ‘hey, there’s a lot of respect in Australia for Sione’.”
No war of words
During previous British and Irish Lions tours, Warren Gatland stirred the pot in the media and riled up the opposition. His adversaries followed suit, but Schmidt says that he does not expect Farrell to deploy these tactics, and neither will he.
“There are coaches who certainly do it, and they even talk to their team through the media sometimes,” he said.
“But if I’ve got something to say to a player, I’d rather say it to them than fire a barrel through the media. I know that a lift-out quote or a phrase can be a headline and inevitably, even after 20-plus years of doing this job, I’ll get it wrong.
“I’m conscious of it and I’m conscious that other coaches do it, but I don’t anticipate it happening in this Lions tour. ‘Faz’ and I have had a few conversations about how we’d like the narrative of the tour to be a celebration of rugby. I think for Australian rugby, we need that.”
