The British and Irish Lions say they have a clear tour agreement with Rugby Australia that Wallabies players must be released to play against the tourists, putting them on a collision course with Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt.
While the Lions will face a strong Western Force team this Saturday, with five Wallabies squad members – Nick Champion de Crespigny, Dylan Pietsch, Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain and Nic White – available for selection, Schmidt has given no indication he will release Test players to feature for the Reds, Waratahs and Brumbies.
After the game in Perth on Saturday, the Lions are due to face the Reds in Brisbane on Wednesday and then the Waratahs on the following Saturday in Sydney. Complicating the picture is the Wallabies’ warm-up Test against Fiji that’s a day after the Lions vs Tahs clash, in Newcastle on Sunday July 6.
The Lions’ CEO Ben Calveley told media at a Welcome to Country ceremony for the tourists in Perth on Monday that negotiations were still ongoing over the make-up of the state teams – even at this late stage.
“We’ll see a competitive fixture at the weekend, and that’s what we’re looking for,” Calveley said.
“We want to make sure our guys are battle hardened when it comes to that Test series against the Wallabies. The agreement is very clear; it says that Test players have to be released to play in fixtures leading into that series. That is our expectation.”
Claveley was asked what would happen if players are withheld from their state teams.
“We’ll play the game at the weekend, and will carry on having discussions with [Rugby Australia CEO] Phil Waugh and their executive team and will take that step by step,” said Calveley.
“We are encouraged that we’ll see a strong side competing at the Optus.
“It’s really important that these games are competitive. It’s not just for a performance stand-point – the players do want to test themselves and build towards the Test series – but it’s also right for the fans, partners and broadcasters who are all expecting competitive fixtures, and for the rugby-loving public. That would be their expectation as well.
“We’re clear that in the agreement, it says that Test players do have to be released. We’ll move into the game at the weekend, and what comes after that, we’ll deal with in time.”
In response to questions over Australia’s competitiveness, due to their lowly world ranking, Lions chair and tour manager Ieuan Evans described facing the Wallabies as “a supreme challenge for us”.
“We have travelled 8,000 miles to come and take on the Wallabies in their own backyard. They have an elite coach and a squad who are really bubbling at the prospect of taking on the Lions for the first time in 12 years. As a challenge there, I am sure they’re going to take on fully bloodily and we’re anticipating that and we’re expecting that,” said Evans.
“We’re talking about one of the proudest most elite sporting nations in the world. I fully expect them to be firing on all cylinders by the time we get to the Test series.
“I have always loved touring here. It is a wonderful nation to tour. We’ve just been welcomed wonderfully by the First Nation people and for us to continue to enjoy that I fully expect the Wallabies and all the provincial teams to provide a huge challenge for us. We’re expecting no less.”
The Lions wield significant financial might as a touring team and are a sought after visitor.
“We played against Argentina on Friday, we played against Japan four years ago. There are different teams around the world that we might be interested in playing against in future. Traditionally that’s been consigned to a pre-tour element — Dublin, Murrayfield — so we’ll probably focus on that,” Calveley said.
“We’re also interested when we go away on tour to see if we can bring other countries like Japan and Fiji to feature in those games as we build up to the Test element. We’re open, we’re flexible but right now there are no plans to change the rotation of the tour structure. The kinds of countries we’ve talked about would include North America, everybody in rugby is interested in breaking through in that market.
“Japan, we played against for a reason. The same with Argentina. There have been discussions with France. So there are lots of different options. I think what’s encouraging for us is that whatever country you speak to, they are interested in having a relationship with the Lions, whether that’s in their country or on UK or Irish soil.
“We know we bring significant travelling numbers to every single country that we visit so that economic impact is important and I think that’s probably one of the reasons why so many countries out there in the world are interested in us.”
