Australia rugby coach rejects Lions contract breach warnings
The coach of Australia’s rugby team Joe Schmidt has rejected the notion that his side would be breaching their playing contract with the British and Irish Lions.
Lions chief executive Ben Calveley said that the clubs the touring side will face before a three-Test series against Australia must play their Wallaby internationals otherwise they’d be breaching their agreement.
But Schmidt hit back, insisting the agreement states that teams must have “the best intention to have the highest-quality players available and playing”.
“We play Fiji on a Sunday and the Waratahs play on a Saturday night,” he added. “So it’s not like you can play Saturday and Sunday night against a team like the Lions. It would be counterproductive.
“It’s not as specific as saying every Wallaby from a state or a club has to be available to play every game that the Lions come through on.”
British and Irish Lions war of words
Lions tours are famous for their wars of words, and this tour has already had its share of that.
The British and Irish Lions begin their tour with matches against club sides Western Force, Queensland Reds, Waratahs and Brumbies, before three Tests and two other matches.
“Are the Lions going to play their best team every week? That’s unlikely,” Schmidt added.
Former Wallaby scrum-half Nic White further said: “If we can bash a couple of their blokes on the way in and bruise them and make them a bit sore by the time they get to the Wallabies then job done as far as the Super Rugby sides are concerned.”
The British and Irish Lions are currently in Western Australia for their match against Force in Perth, having lost to Argentina in Dublin last Friday.
They travelled Down Under via Qatar but managed to avoid the delays some fans have felt due to Qatari air space being closed and reopened due to Iranian missile concerns.