'You whinge and bitch about us... stop your arrogance': Matt Williams

Former Scotland coach Matt Williams has provided an impassioned response to the “disrespect” that has been shown to Australia over suggestions that the British & Irish Lions should look to tour another nation in the future.

In light of the series that has unfolded so far, where Andy Farrell’s side are yet to lose a match on Australian soil, the notion of changing the current touring schedule has been bandied about, with a tour of France being high on many people’s wishlist.

But the former New South Wales Waratahs coach Williams is adamant that the Lions will return to Australia again – scheduled for 2027 –  despite rugby union “hanging on by our fingernails” Down Under.

Speaking on Off the Ball recently, the Australian was scathing in his criticism of this arrogant attitude that has been shown towards his homeland, particularly when regarding the performance Joe Schmidt’s side put in against the Lions at the MCG.

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“How do I say this without sounding an aggressive and angry person?” he said.

“The disrespect Australia has been shown by all the talk: ‘Why did we ever come back here again? What are we doing here?’ It has got up everyone’s nose here. It is really so disrespectful that your visitors come to this country, we provide everything for you, you’re making 10 fortunes that you don’t make in South Africa and New Zealand and all you do is whinge and bitch about us.

“And then when we come out in the second Test and play unbelievably well and you win in the last second – on a great try and a fantastic game – and people say ‘we don’t know if we’ll come back’. Really? Is that what you’re going to do? Well, good luck.

“I can tell you they’ll come back and I can tell you why they’ll come back. Because the Lions’ number one is about making money and Australia makes more money than any other tour. That’s the reason they’ll come back. The second part is Australian rugby is not like any other place in the world. We’ve got rugby league and AFL, there’s 36 professional teams in rugby league and AFL, we’ve got four professional rugby teams. We’re a minor sport in Australia. It’s not like New Zealand and South Africa and Ireland and England, we are a very, very minor sport here and we are hanging on by our fingernails. And instead of coming here and saying ‘we’ll help you hang on, we’ll help your game because we love rugby,’ people come here and say ‘you guys are simply not good enough, you’re not in our league, what are we doing here?’

“It’s been really hard to take, I can tell you. What you saw from the Wallabies last week was a response to that. It’s going to be hard for them this week, they’re so heartbroken, but I hope they come to the Olympic Stadium in Sydney and put in another really positive performance because it does need that and it does need the people who support the Lions to take a breath, stop your arrogance, stop telling us how crap we are. We’re fighting by ourselves to keep the game alive, could you help us? That hasn’t been the attitude so far.”