Joe Schmidt should let Wallabies play for their states against the Lions. Here's why
There isn't an apples-to-apples comparison to be made between the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in 2017 and the one in Australia this year, at least in terms of scheduling.
The All Blacks, to the pleasant surprise of many at the time, allowed established Test stars such as Sam Whitelock, Codie Taylor, Owen Franks and Israel Dagg to play for the Crusaders against the Lions just two weeks before the first Test of the series.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has signalled this won't happen this year, and the apparent discrepancy has already been picked up in the northern hemisphere, where fears of the tour being devalued are a quadrennial storyline.
The complexity of this year's schedule is that the Wallabies are playing against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6, one day after the Waratahs host the Lions in Sydney and four days after the Reds welcome them in Brisbane.
It is the addition of that Fiji fixture two weeks before the first Test on July 19 that will weaken the Reds and the Waratahs for the Lions tour games, not Schmidt's desire to shield his players from injury risk, and the question really become one of whether the Wallabies are better served by the Fiji Test or playing in the tour games.
It is self-evident that the tour as a whole would benefit from the Wallabies' top-liners being available for the first three tour games (the Force, the Reds and the Waratahs – the Brumbies game is just 10 days away from the opening Test and a less realistic prospect).
Imagine the frisson in Brisbane if Harry Wilson was permitted to run it off the back fence against the Lions in a Queensland jersey on July 2.
But from a high-performance perspective, the tour games are also surely better preparation for the Test series than the hit-out against Fiji, whose style is completely different to that of the Lions and whose players are largely familiar to the Wallabies thanks to the presence of the Drua in Super Rugby Pacific.
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