‘Can’t afford to listen’: McDermott on Wallabies’ Fiji win and Lions focus

Tate McDermott insists that while this month’s dramatic 21-18 win over Fiji was “a step in the right direction” for the Wallabies, the men in gold will need to rise to another level for a blockbuster three-Test series against the British & Irish Lions.

In a thrilling clash between two 2023 Rugby World Cup rivals, the Wallabies left it late as they came away with a three-point win in Newcastle. Harry Wilson was the hero for the hosts, with the skipper scoring the match-winner with less than three minutes left.

That was Australia’s only competitive hit-out before taking on a red-hot Lions outfit this weekend at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. The Lions played Los Pumas in Dublin before making the trek Down Under, where they have played five tour matches already.

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After starting their tour with a dominant 54-7 win over the Western Force in Perth, the Lions have also beaten the Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies, before defeating a star-studded AUNZ Invitational XV side in Adelaide.

When asked to assess the Wallabies’ hard-fought win over the Flying Fijians, McDermott spoke candidly before previewing the challenge that awaits against  “world-class” opposition.

“Yeah it was a step in the right direction. It was nowhere near perfect and there’s quite a few areas we needed to shore up, but at the end of the day we got the result,” McDermott told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday.

“The preparation for us has just been, post that, we haven’t done a hell of a lot of dwelling on it. We’ve obviously previewed the huge challenge ahead of us in the Lions; the number of games they’ve played and they’ve played bloody well.

“For us it’s about obviously improving on the things we didn’t do as well and then obviously harnessing the stuff we did do as well. There was quite a bit of that against Fiji, just not enough for long periods of time which is what we’re going to need coming up against a world-class teams [like] the Lions.”

The Wallabies will go into the Lions Series as firm underdogs for all three Tests, and that’s a label many fans seemed to pin on the Aussies a fair while ago. Will Skelton was asked about that tag on Monday, but with a smile the towering lock simply said, “I love. We love it.”

Australia won one of their six matches during The Rugby Championship in 2024, which included a historic 67-27 loss to Argentina. While the Wallabies bounced back on the Spring Tour, shocking England 42-37 at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, they remain the underdogs.

British & Irish Lions backrower Henry Pollock recently said a 3-nil series sweep “is definitely on the table” for the visitors. It was a bold warning shot that has added to the eager sense of anticipation for the first Test in Brisbane for fans.

But for the Wallabies, that’s all outside noise.

“It hasn’t actually been something we’ve spoken about, honestly,” McDermott said.

“For us there’s obviously a lot of noise, probably more than there would be in a July series because of just how big these next three games are going to be.

“For us, we can’t afford to listen to that. We’ve got to make sure, like I said before, we’ve got to be better than we were against Fiji.

“That started on Monday when we hit the ground running, again it came out today and that’s as simple as that. It’s the old cliché, we’ve got to stay between the four walls of our environment because that’s what we believe is going to get us better and that’s what we believe is going to get us results.

“We just can’t afford to listen to people talk in the media or players from the Lions or Wallabies talking out of turn. That’s kind of how we viewed that.”