Wallabies great Matt Burke has taken a swipe at Ben Youngs and believes that Andy Farrell has a big selection headache after Ireland’s failure in the Six Nations.
Today marks 100 days until the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia commences.
Burke, who was part of a successful series for the Wallabies back in 2001, is eagerly looking forward to the tour, particularly after Australia’s improved showings at the end of last year.
Ben Youngs’ comment
After beating Wales in back-to-back matches Down Under last July, Joe Schmidt’s charges struggled in the Rugby Championship, losing to South Africa and New Zealand twice, while beating Argentina once but also falling to a defeat to Los Pumas.
This led to real concerns over how competitive the Wallabies would be in the series in 2025, with former England scrum-half Youngs suggesting that the British and Irish Lions should tour South Africa instead.
“I’m looking at it and thinking the Lions are better off going to South Africa and touring there. Given that the last time they went, there was no fans allowed,” he said on his podcast For the Love of Rugby.
”I don’t know, maybe we’ll just do a reunion of 2013 and we’ll just go f***ing do the business on them – get all the lads out of retirement.”
Youngs would be served some humble pie in November when Australia defeated Wales and England while being rather competitive against Scotland and Ireland.
Despite the improved performances, many will still see the Lions as the favourites to win the series but speaking on Thursday, Burke took a swipe at Youngs and said that the Australian spirit is something that cannot be written off.
“It was an interesting call from Ben Youngs saying we should go elsewhere,” he told reporters in Sydney.
“You can’t write off the Aussie spirit, it is just so good and more often than not, we punch above our weight.”
Andy Farrell in a ‘difficult’ spot
The legendary full-back also believes that head coach Farrell will have to shift some of the plans for his squad after Ireland underperformed during the Six Nations.
Simon Easterby took over as head coach of Ireland for the tournament, with them and France being clear frontrunners for the title. However, it was an underwhelming performance from the men in green and Burke believes that will be reflected in the final squad named next month.
“With the way it finished this year (in the Six Nations) with Ireland not winning, they have got to choose more players from elsewhere,” he said.
“England and Ireland will get the majority of players, Scotland will get some in there and Wales might sneak a few.
“All of a sudden it’s a very difficult proposition to get a culminating team to thrive and be cohesive – that’s probably the big thing.
“Look it doesn’t matter who they throw out, these guys (the Wallabies) have to play well and that’s the great part of that Aussie spirit that I mentioned. When you throw that jersey on there is no denying the spirit that comes out of you and culminating with playing at home and having an Aussie crowd supporting you, it is quite a moment to be a part of.”
Still, Burke does not believe that the Lions will be on the backfoot when they arrive in Australia.
“They are not on the backfoot at all, they get to choose from four teams to make a super team, we do as well, which is the great thing about it,” he continued.
“When you look at the Lions tour’s history, representing your country is the biggest thing, but for those who go on to represent the Lions that’s another level above.
“They play and tour every four years obviously but it’s just something special and these guys will get to experience 40,000 people coming all the way from the West coming to the East and having a crack.”
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