‘We’re already desperate’: Schmidt’s candid take after Lions defeat

Coach Joe Schmidt insists the Wallabies didn’t need a one-nil series deficit against the British & Irish Lions to become desperate, believing the men in gold showed character but lacked accuracy in Saturday’s 19-27 loss at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

It’s no secret the Wallabies went into the series opener as firm underdogs, with a star-studded Lions side aiming for a three-nil sweep of the host nation in the coming weeks. The Lions won all five tour games before facing the Wallabies, taking their game to another level in the Test arena.

Scottish fly-half Finn Russell converted a penalty in the first minute to give the Lions an early lead, before Sione Tuipulotu crossed for the opening try soon after. Tom Curry and Dan Sheehan also scored tries as the Lions piled on the points during a clinical 42-minute period.

Siya on being back and his future with the Boks

Siya on being back and his future with the Boks

With the Lions leading 24-5 early in the second term, the Wallabies were down but not out, with more than 52,000 fans watching on at the iconic sporting venue. Australia outscored the Lions 14-10 during the second 40, but the visitors hung on for an eight-point win.

The Wallabies need to win the next two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney to secure the series title, with it all to play for at the MCG this Saturday. Schmidt knocked back the idea that the Aussies have only now become desperate when reflecting on the performance in the first match.

“We’re pretty desperate tonight. I honestly thought the players’ effort tonight showed a desperation, a desperation that they are so committed to playing for their country, that they are desperate to compete at all the contest areas in the game,” Schmidt said post-game.

“You see a kid like Tom Lynagh going up, and he knows he’s going to get hit in the air there because he can see the guy coming, but he’s not taking his eyes off the ball.

“I just felt that there was enough demonstration that we’re already desperate but we’ve got to be more accurate. We’ve got to be able to probably not be a little bit submissive early in the game where we’ve trying to find our feet.

“We’ve got to hit the ground running I think.”

Schmidt also confirmed post-game that injured duo Rob Valetini and Will Skelton will be in the mix for selection this coming week, with the pair missing this month’s Test against the Flying Fijians in Newcastle and the Lions opener.

Western Force backrower Nick Champion de Crespigny was named to debut in place of Valetini, with the new Wallaby completing a team-high 17 tackles. Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams partnered up once again as the two locks with Skelton unavailable.

Without those two key forwards, the Wallabies were caught on the backfoot during the first half, with the Lions dominating the territory battle, but it was a different story after the break as the Wallabies were much more competitive.

“We’ll definitely take our learnings from that first half,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson told reporters.

“I think they were definitely winning that physical battle early around the breakdown and we’ll have to take some lessons from there and definitely take some confidence from that second half and look to what we did there and how we can do that next game.

“It definitely was a game of two halves there. We can take a lot of confidence from that second half.”