Rugby Australia boss defends Wallabies following British and Irish Lions concerns

Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh has come to the Wallabies’ defence after suggestions that the Wallaby squad is not up to scratch.

With the British and Irish Lions tour set to take place in Australia next year, there appears to be a race against time to ensure the Wallabies will be ready.

Currently, the general consensus is that the hosts will be heavy underdogs to the combined nations, who will be looking to complete their third tour victory in a row over the Wallabies. Phil Waugh has other ideas, however, telling the Sydney Morning Herald:

“I am confident we are putting in place the systems, structure and discipline that sets the Test team up for success,

“We saw the in the second Test against the Springboks … we missed a penalty on half-time, so we should have been ahead at half-time against the world champions.

“You can see the progress is there. It is not nearly where we need it to be, but if we keep progressing at the speed with which we have moved things in the last six months, then there is plenty of time.

“It is just a matter of then getting that winning experience. We now have two Tests against the All Blacks, and then a Grand Slam tour … so we have opportunity to play big Test matches.”

Despite their recent record loss to Argentina, Waugh is insistent that it is still a team in a building process, adding:

“It is a team that is, and I hate using the word re-building, but it is a team that is re-setting, and it takes experiences in big moments to get better,” Waugh said.

“Obviously, the enormity of the scoreline in that second half was disappointing. But there is context that is important … we are not the most experienced team in world rugby, and we are building that experience.”

It’s not easy to justify a record loss, but the chief executive of Rugby Australia gave it a go…

“That Argentina team is very different to an Argentinian team of old, who liked to scrum and maul,” he said.

“They have genuine attacking threats across the team. I don’t want to make excuses, but games like that can get away from you very quickly when momentum is against you.

“If you said two weeks ago you are going to go to Argentina and win one and a half games of rugby, you would have taken that. So context is important.”

The Wallabies will next face the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney on the 21st of September at Accor Stadium.