Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham is taking a country before club approach to selection for the British and Irish Lions, but is hopeful some Wallabies will return for the ACT clash.
After arriving in Perth for their opening tour match against the Western Force on Saturday, Lions boss Ben Calveley claimed Rugby Australia was in danger of breaching the tour agreement if they didn’t release their best Wallabies to the state teams the tourists will face.
This was brushed off by RA with Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt already freeing five Force players from his 36-strong squad, while on Wednesday hooker Matt Faessler and centre Hunter Paisami were given the green light to turn out for their Queensland side.
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (shoulder) and Seru Uru (knee) have also both been cleared to play for the Reds against the Lions next Wednesday and push their case to return to the Wallabies squad.
The Lions reacted favourably to news of Paisami and Faessler being made avilable.
Hunter Paisami of the Reds takes on the defence during the round nine Super Rugby Pacific match between Queensland Reds and Highlanders at Suncorp Stadium, on April 19, 2024, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“It’s exciting,” Lions assistant coach Andrew Goodman said.
“Hunter is a great player. If you look at the Force players who’ve been released, I’ve watched a lot of their rugby this year and they’ve got an exciting group.
“If you watch a Force team or a Reds team during Super Rugby, it’s not an indication of what you’re going to get against a Lions team.
“It’s a once-in-a-life opportunity for most of those guys, so the level of intensity is going to be through the roof.”
Larkham, who was part of the triumphant 2001 Australian campaign, said he understood a Wallabies series win was the priority for the country.
“Knowing that the Wallabies have to get their preparation right going into that first game – they’ve got a game against Fiji on Sunday and we play on the Wednesday,” said the former great.
“And then 10 days later the Wallabies play their first Test against British and Irish Lions, so if some of our players aren’t playing for us in preparation for that first Test it’s certainly understandable.”
Bowing out in the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals earlier this month, the Brumbies have a proud record against the Lions – in 2013 they became the first provincial side to post a victory on Australian soil in more than 40 years.
Larkham said they had shown vision of that win to the current crop and excitement, and pressure, was building ahead of the July 9 match in Canberra.
He said conversations were continuing about players who weren’t going to be used in the first Test in Brisbane on July 19 returning to bolster the Brumbies.
“We’re short in a couple of positions and we are reliant on some of those Wallabies coming back in,” he said, with the Brumbies providing 10 squad members and four training partners, with young prop Lington Ieli also joining the camp.
“Certainly those players who are training up there, we’re reliant on those guys coming back into the squad to play and then hopefully a couple of Test players come back into our team to play in that game as well.
“There’s a couple of conversations that have to happen with Rugby Australia at the back end of this week when they’ll know a little bit more around who they’re going to select for the Fiji game.
“Then we’ll know who we’re going to have available for our game against the Lions.”
Newshttps://www.theroar.com.au/2025/06/26/intensity-through-the-roof-lions-welcome-reds-decision-back-aussies-to-play-better-against-them-than-they-did-in-super-rugby/‘Intensity through the roof’: Lions welcome Reds decision, back Aussies to play better against them than they did in Super Rugby
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