Matt Williams: Charmless Lions have put on a masterclass in how not to win friends since landing in Australia

Irish Times

18-07-2025

Long ago, draped in the wattle blossom gold of their national tree, the Wallabies reigned supreme. Back then, they were Australia's team.
Australia's two giant professional oval-ball codes,
Australian Football League
(AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL), have a combined total of 35 professional men's teams. While these mega sports dominate the local media landscape, both codes have a huge weakness.
Their international footprints are close to non-existent. One of rugby's greatest strengths is its global nature, with multiple international matches every season. This fact makes the AFL and NRL green with envy.
In 1986, when the Wallabies trounced
New Zealand
in the third test at Eden Park in Auckland and brought the Bledisloe Cup home, the Australian sporting public were overjoyed. Nothing unites Australians like beating New Zealand.
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The AFL and NRL supporters may not have liked rugby, but they loved to see an Australian team, their golden Wallabies, victorious.
When the William Webb Ellis Trophy joined the Bledisloe Cup in the trophy cabinet after the 1991 Rugby World Cup (RWC), the love affair between the Australian people and the Wallabies was consummated. For the next decade, as the trophies piled up, so did the love fest. The 1999 World Cup was joined by the Tom Richards Trophy when Australia defeated the
Lions
in 2001.
Australia captain John Eales lifts the Tom Richards Cup after the series victory against the Lions in 2001. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Allsport
Prime ministers, movie stars, media moguls and boxing legends all sat in the stands wearing Wallaby scarves, praying the TV cameras would flash their image out to the millions of adoring Australian sports lovers watching at home.
The moment Jonny Wilkinson's boot launched the winning drop goal in the dying moments of the 2003 RWC Final, the relationship between the Wallabies and the Australian people began to wane.
As each trophy departed Australian shores, the Wallabies' fall from grace accelerated. The AFL and NRL rejoiced in the demise.
However, not even the considerable political power of the AFL and NRL can stop the 12-year cycle of the Lions juggernaut.
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View from Down Under: The Lions are very welcome guests, but they could do their hosts more harm than good
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A leading economist this week estimated that the Lions will inject the equivalent of €230 million into the Australian economy.
Remember that the foundational purpose of today's Lions organisation is to make money for the home unions. When compared to South Africa and New Zealand, the Lions' tours of Australia are the most lucrative by a considerable margin.
With huge stadiums packed for every match and the Australian dollar stronger than the Kiwi dollar and South African rand, Australia is a financial bonanza for the Lions.
Cash is king and the money tells me that the Lions are not going to dump Australia for Argentina anytime soon.
The favourable finances do not hide the hard reality that these three tests across the next fortnight are perhaps the most important in modern Australian rugby history.
This is because the first test in Brisbane offers the Wallabies – and the entire sport of rugby union on this island continent – a path to redemption and the saving of the soul of the game in Australia.
The Lions test team has several players, including Hugo Keenan and Tadhg Furlong, who are a long way out of form. Tadhg Beirne is a second rower playing blindside flanker, while Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones are the second-best pairing of centres in the Lions. Every Lion is a quality player, but this is not an overwhelmingly brilliant XV.
Tadhg Beirne during Lions training in Australia. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
It might not be clear to Lions supporters in Ireland, but here in Australia, these Lions have not been great ambassadors for the game.
Winning the hearts and minds of the Australian rugby public has not appeared on the Lions' to-do list. With over 90 individuals in their touring party, they are like an enclosed order of sporting monks. Happy within their cloistered confines, shunning the outside world.
On the nightly news in Australia, there are almost no Lions faces or interviews. Compared to the Wallabies – who are out in the community, visiting children's hospitals and working the local media to promote the game – Australians' access to Lions players has been less than minimal. That is a highly regrettable situation that the Lions management needs to change.
To write off a stronger Wallaby outfit at home is another example of the arrogance that is infecting rugby in Ireland and the UK
There has also been some simply idiotic stuff. Immediately prior to the Lions' game against the Waratahs, Sydney suffered under a horrendous four-day storm that produced hurricane levels of torrential rain.
It is well documented that the drainage of the relatively new Sydney Football Stadium has failed during heavy rain events. After the match, the Lions publicly complained that the pitch had been watered as a tactic to hinder their attack.
In other words, the Lions ignored the huge rainfall and the documented drainage problems at the Stadium and accused the Waratahs of cheating. It was embarrassing to witness, ignorant in context and a lesson in how not to win friends and influence people.
Here, we should remember that Australian and Irish teams have one very similar trait. They are at their most dangerous when they have been insulted and written off. From day one, the Lions entourage have neatly ticked both boxes.
The absence of Will Skelton is a blow for the Wallabies. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho
The Lions are red-hot favourites, but there is a path that Joe Schmidt can chart for his Wallabies to navigate an unlikely series opening win.
The Wallabies are also below their best with no Rob Valetini or Will Skelton. Added to that, the slightness and inexperience of Tom Lynagh at outhalf is of grave concern. But it does not mean the Lions are assured of victory.
If the Australians follow the gutsy example of the understrength Waratahs and Brumbies, who sprinted forward and tackled with such an intensity that they pressured their opponents into errors, then the Wallabies have a chance because defence wins big matches.
The north has conveniently forgotten that only a few weeks ago an understrength Argentina, who were also written off before the match, defeated the Lions. Logically, it follows that to write off a stronger Wallaby outfit at home is another example of the arrogance that is infecting rugby in Ireland and the UK.
The Lions are overwhelming favourites. They must shoulder the pressure of expectation like no other Lions team has done in living memory. All of that despite not having proved they are worthy of such expectation.
The Lions faithful cannot conceive of a way they can be defeated.
All of which is music to Australian ears. As the Pumas proved in Dublin, under the combination of massively unrealistic expectations, deep physicality, scoreboard pressure and their own underestimation of their opponent, the Lions cracked.
If the Wallabies can turn Brisbane into a physical bash-fest and match the Lions' setplay, this will allow the Australian back row to dominate the tackle zone. If all of that occurs, then the gold team has a slim chance.
Of course, it is a big ask for Joe Schmidt's team. For the future of rugby in Australia, I hope today's Wallabies can be inspired by those who wore that famous jersey before them and seize this golden opportunity to become Australia's team once more.