Wallabies legend reveals what ‘fans want to see’ after ending British & Irish Lions series on a high
Wallabies legend Tim Horan (inset) and Australia and New Zealand in action in a Bledisloe Cup Test.
After finishing their three-Test series against the British & Irish Lions with a victory, Wallabies legend Tim Horan has urged his former team to turn their focus to the Bledisloe Cup.
Despite suffering a 2-1 series defeat against the Lions, Horan was encouraged by Australia’s performances in the last two Tests against the famous touring team and feels it bodes well for their Rugby Championship campaign.
After the Lions sealed a deserved 27-19 win over the Wallabies in Brisbane in the first Test, the home side were more competitive in the next two matches and despite suffering a narrow 29-26 defeat in the second encounter in Melbourne, Joe Schmidt’s troops finished the series on a high when they clinched a 22-14 victory in Sydney on Saturday.
Schmidt is set to step down from his position as Wallabies boss after the upcoming Rugby Championship campaign, with Les Kiss set to take over the coaching reins from him.
And although Australia are set to take on the world champions South Africa in back-to-back Tests in Johannesburg and Cape Town on August 16 and 23 respectively, Horan feels the Wallabies’ Bledisloe Cup clashes in Auckland on September 27 and in Perth on October 4 will be their main priority.
“I think for us, for the Wallabies fans, what they’ve seen the last three or four weeks for all the Australian teams, it’s the Bledisloe Cup,” he told Sky Sports when asked what he feels the Wallabies’ expectations are for the Rugby Championship.
‘We want to try and get it back at some stage’
“We need to get our hands somehow on the Bledisloe Cup. We haven’t had it for about 23 years, and we want to try and get it back at some stage, and that’s what the fans want to see.
“Even if you just beat the All Blacks once, that’s what the momentum we need.”
Horan was delighted by the Wallabies’ displays in their last two Tests against the Lions after they delivered an underwhelming performance in the first clash in Brisbane.
“I think we really needed last week as well, 90,000 people, the MCG, a close game, and then we needed to win here tonight, and we got that, and it’s going to do a lot for our game in Australia,” he said after Saturday’s encounter in Sydney.
‘There’s so much pride in the gold jersey’
“Of course, we know the competition in Australia, the NRL and the AFL, so we’re always battling to get airtime, but I think it’s also shown that there’s so much pride in the gold jersey.
“I haven’t seen as much gold around the stadium tonight. There was certainly a lot of red here as well, but I think it shows so much pride in that gold jersey now.”
Horan also had special words of praise for Schmidt for the improvements he’s made with the Wallabies after he replaced Eddie Jones as head coach following a disastrous campaign at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
“I think what Joe Schmidt’s done in the last probably 12 months or so is brought a lot of younger players to come into the side, and then they’re starting to be experienced players,” he said.
“You look at Len Ikitau and Joseph Suaalii, now that’s their seventh Test match together, starting to form a little bit of a combination, and I think when you look at the impact of Will Skelton and Taniela Tupou, they played big minutes tonight.
“So for the Wallabies, they’ve got to back up now in two weeks’ time to play the world champions, so that’s where we’ll probably see where they’re at, but we really needed that result tonight.”
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