2025 British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia

[Greenstar5]

Know it's a fair way out, but thought I'd try to get some discussion on the rugby board up and running.

Been watching this year's Wallabies tests so far to see how they are tracking towards next year. A lot of work to get games and experience in squad for a huge series next year. Was great to get the wins against Wales and Georgia, past teams lose at least 1 or 2 of those, the rugby played was quite entertaining. Smashed by the Boks yesterday, probably going to be tough to win any games this Rugby Championship, but hopefully these games this year put the Wallabies in a good place come next year.

The bidding for games as been interesting, 4 or 5 of the major cities all wanted a Lions test. Thought Perth might have beaten Brisbane, due to a larger capacity. Great to see Adelaide get a game, will be interesting to see what an AUNZ 15 looks like. Hopefully some strong Kiwi players come over. MCG full will be a great to see.

Reports all tickets sales so far are sold out (more to come). RA should make tons, even if the Wallabies are smashed.

Any thoughts on the tour?

Any word on the Rebels tour game at Marvel Stadium? Surely won't cancel it, maybe an Aus Country Side for a replacement.

Should we be looking at overseas players to strengthen the team?

Will any good Kiwi players turn up for the mixed 15 game at Adelaide?

Will the Brumbies be the only team to will a game? LOL.

Anyone going to the games?

‘Off the charts’: Wallabies’ woes no problem as $300m Lions tour looms

In a year’s time, up to 40,000 travelling fans will start arriving for the British and Irish Lions tour. And they’ll be cashed up.

www.smh.com.au

Lions Tour 2025 | RUGBY.com.au

Get ready for the British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia. Stay up to date with the latest news, ticket information, fixtures and more.

www.rugby.com.au

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Wobs not tracking well at the moment. All the good will from the 1st Argies test gone in a blink of an eye.
Have to figure a way to keep Bell and Tupou on park and get them to a fitness level where they can play 60 min a game because when they are on field our forward pack seems to hold up at least.

Backline on the other hand is a huge concern, gone are the days where Australia was at the forefront of creative attacking rugby. We have a dearth of flyhalf talent and no speed in the back three, the only person I would say is close to world class in backline is Ikitau (Jorgensen if he can get his body right could potentially be too).
Other thing that concerns me, is outside of Bobby V (who has been excellent), which forward/back is capable of bending the line and putting us on the front foot?

I guess this has been a long time coming because the only time we have looked dangerous as a team in the last 5 or so years has been when Kerevi/Koirebete/Cooper have all been in the team and firing, now two are no longer available and the other looks over the hill, and we havent really developed any back ups to take their spots outside of Marky Mark and Carter Gordon who have now left because McLennan was throwing money at the shiny NRL object instead of making sure we retain the few backline stars we had.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Know it's a fair way out, but thought I'd try to get some discussion on the rugby board up and running.

Been watching this year's Wallabies tests so far to see how they are tracking towards next year. A lot of work to get games and experience in squad for a huge series next year. Was great to get the wins against Wales and Georgia, past teams lose at least 1 or 2 of those, the rugby played was quite entertaining. Smashed by the Boks yesterday, probably going to be tough to win any games this Rugby Championship, but hopefully these games this year put the Wallabies in a good place come next year.

The bidding for games as been interesting, 4 or 5 of the major cities all wanted a Lions test. Thought Perth might have beaten Brisbane, due to a larger capacity. Great to see Adelaide get a game, will be interesting to see what an AUNZ 15 looks like. Hopefully some strong Kiwi players come over. MCG full will be a great to see.

Reports all tickets sales so far are sold out (more to come). RA should make tons, even if the Wallabies are smashed.

Any thoughts on the tour?

Any word on the Rebels tour game at Marvel Stadium? Surely won't cancel it, maybe an Aus Country Side for a replacement.

Should we be looking at overseas players to strengthen the team?

Will any good Kiwi players turn up for the mixed 15 game at Adelaide?

Will the Brumbies be the only team to will a game? LOL.

Anyone going to the games?

‘Off the charts’: Wallabies’ woes no problem as $300m Lions tour looms

In a year’s time, up to 40,000 travelling fans will start arriving for the British and Irish Lions tour. And they’ll be cashed up.

www.smh.com.au

Lions Tour 2025 | RUGBY.com.au

Get ready for the British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia. Stay up to date with the latest news, ticket information, fixtures and more.

www.rugby.com.au

Sorry to answer one of your Qs, I'm going to the Melb test.
Bit disappointed it's at the G, the nosebleed tix were the only ones I could afford. But it's the last time I'll be going to a Lions test with dad so worth it (will always regret not being able to get tix to the 2001 match).

 

[Greenstar5]

I like what Joe is doing, think he's on the right track. Time is against him though. There is only 6 or so tests left.

We have showed in parts we can match it with the Boks, Pumas and ABs, just not for 80 mins.

Still excited for the tour next year.

 

[Greenstar5]

Wallabies win thrilling Test match against England with phenomenal last-gasp try

The Wallabies have won a thriller against England at Twickenham, with Max Jorgensen scoring in the 84th minute to secure an extraorindary 42-37 win.

www.abc.net.au

Great win over night. Worth having a look at the highlights.


Games against Wales, Scotland and Ireland to come.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Wallabies win thrilling Test match against England with phenomenal last-gasp try

The Wallabies have won a thriller against England at Twickenham, with Max Jorgensen scoring in the 84th minute to secure an extraorindary 42-37 win.

www.abc.net.au

Great win over night. Worth having a look at the highlights.


Games against Wales, Scotland and Ireland to come.

Was a great game too! So many lead changes at the end. Much better spectacle than nz v Ire the night before which was littered with ruck infringements by Ireland.
Was one of our best wins in ages. When we have everyone available there is some serious talent in squad, question is about depth. If bobby v, bell or ikitau are down we drop off considerably.

 

[GC2015]

Wallabies win thrilling Test match against England with phenomenal last-gasp try

The Wallabies have won a thriller against England at Twickenham, with Max Jorgensen scoring in the 84th minute to secure an extraorindary 42-37 win.

www.abc.net.au

Great win over night. Worth having a look at the highlights.


Games against Wales, Scotland and Ireland to come.

Just a question/observation here. Clearly the Suaalii gamble has paid off and we've seen this work in the past when Rugby Australia targeted other NRL stars like Sailor, Tuqiri, Rogers etc in the lead up to the 2003 World Cup. Why don't they do this more often? There's obviously some outstanding talent in the NRL that are capable of transitioning into the 15 man game and a fair few of them also grew up playing union at the school level like Suaalii when he played fullback for The King's School's 1st XV.

It just seems like a no brainer to me. Identify the NRL talent (like Suaalii) who you are confident can make the transition and make them an offer they can't refuse. IMO a big part of the reason rugby union is dying in Australia is because the Wallabies have become mostly uncompetitive at the top level. It's not that we don't have the athletes to compete on the world stage, it's that the majority of our best athletes are playing rugby league or Aussie rules.

Just my two cents. What do you guys think?

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Just a question/observation here. Clearly the Suaalii gamble has paid off and we've seen this work in the past when Rugby Australia targeted other NRL stars like Sailor, Tuqiri, Rogers etc in the lead up to the 2003 World Cup. Why don't they do this more often? There's obviously some outstanding talent in the NRL that are capable of transitioning into the 15 man game and a fair few of them also grew up playing union at the school level like Suaalii when he played fullback for The King's School's 1st XV.

It just seems like a no brainer to me. Identify the NRL talent (like Suaalii) who you are confident can make the transition and make them an offer they can't refuse. IMO a big part of the reason rugby union is dying in Australia is because the Wallabies have become mostly uncompetitive at the top level. It's not that we don't have the athletes to compete on the world stage, it's that the majority of our best athletes are playing rugby league or Aussie rules.

Just my two cents. What do you guys think?

The game is close to broke though. They signed all of sailor/rogers/tuqiri when it was a boom time (and I'd argue it was different levels of success, sailor wasn't much chop, Rogers was the most promising and natural union player but had injury issues and tuqiri was a solid wallaby but a little one dimensional).

Sualli was great though, and because of the previous junior experience he seemed to get positioning when he doesn't have the ball alot more than Folau ever did. Let's hope he can build a great centre combo with ikitau, will the positive of him coming in outweigh losing Marky Mark and Carter Gordon though? We'll probably never know for sure but that's the balancing act Rugby Aus has to consider with their perilous financial situation.

 

[GC2015]

The game is close to broke though. They signed all of sailor/rogers/tuqiri when it was a boom time (and I'd argue it was different levels of success, sailor wasn't much chop, Rogers was the most promising and natural union player but had injury issues and tuqiri was a solid wallaby but a little one dimensional).

Sualli was great though, and because of the previous junior experience he seemed to get positioning when he doesn't have the ball alot more than Folau ever did. Let's hope he can build a great centre combo with ikitau, will the positive of him coming in outweigh losing Marky Mark and Carter Gordon though? We'll probably never know for sure but that's the balancing act Rugby Aus has to consider with their perilous financial situation.

Rogers actually played union for TSS in the high level QLD GPS schools competition when he was growing up, so it wasn't surprising to see he did the best out of the three of them. To the best of my knowledge, Sailor and Tuqiri didn't play union growing up.

As you mentioned, Suaalii DID grow up playing union for The King's School in the NSW GPS schools competition and surprise surprise, he also looks to have made a seamless transition into the 15 man game. So just target the NRL players who played union in school? There's heaps of them. Karmichael Hunt played union for Churchie in his schooling days and he made his way into the Wallabies line up as well.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Rogers actually played union for TSS in the high level QLD GPS schools competition when he was growing up, so it wasn't surprising to see he did the best out of the three of them. To the best of my knowledge, Sailor and Tuqiri didn't play union growing up.

As you mentioned, Suaalii DID grow up playing union for The King's School in the NSW GPS schools competition and surprise surprise, he also looks to have made a seamless transition into the 15 man game. So just target the NRL players who played union in school? There's heaps of them. Karmichael Hunt played union for Churchie in his schooling days and he made his way into the Wallabies line up as well.

Didn't realise Rogers had played junior union. He looked really special for the tahs in 2004 before his season got derailed by a bad ankle injury.

Don't really follow NRL so wasn't sure what to expect of Suaallii but that was a great debut. I think the MoM calls were a bit hyperbolic, bell/valentini/ikitau were much more influential, but he looked like a natural. Had the athletic gifts of peak folau but seemed to have the spacial awareness and ability to bring others into the game like SBW. I thought they would hide him in defense as 13 is such an important role in the defensive line but they actually got him to defend there most of the game. He missed 4 from 8 tackles so still has some "work ons" but his defensive read late in the game that resulted in kellaways try showed he has the right idea.

 

[GC2015]

Didn't realise Rogers had played junior union. He looked really special for the tahs in 2004 before his season got derailed by a bad ankle injury.

Don't really follow NRL so wasn't sure what to expect of Suaallii but that was a great debut. I think the MoM calls were a bit hyperbolic, bell/valentini/ikitau were much more influential, but he looked like a natural. Had the athletic gifts of peak folau but seemed to have the spacial awareness and ability to bring others into the game like SBW. I thought they would hide him in defense as 13 is such an important role in the defensive line but they actually got him to defend there most of the game. He missed 4 from 8 tackles so still has some "work ons" but his defensive read late in the game that resulted in kellaways try showed he has the right idea.

Rogers was a special talent. I think he was always destined to end up spending most of his career in the NRL because of his dad's association, but he was definitely multi-talented. Wouldn't surprise me if he was even capable of making it in the AFL had he been given the right opportunities in his younger years. Certainly had the right build/endurance for it.

You'd have to say, based on the little evidence we have, the Suaalii experiment is a massive success for Rugby Australia. For this reason, I'd be eyeing off another one or two similar types from the NRL. I know it costs money, but it's going to pay dividends and we shouldn't be embarrassed at our home World Cup in a few years from now.