Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt appears to have altered his stance slightly on the subject of releasing his Test stars for the British and Irish Lions\u2019 pre-Tests tour games.<\/b><\/p>\n
In mid-May, Australia\u2019s head coach was adamant that he wanted to \u201csafeguard\u201d up to 25 first-choice players to make sure they did not pick up any injuries ahead of the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe policy is that we\u2019d probably be very keen to safeguard out what we perceive to be 23 or 24, 25, and then the rest of the squad for them to get the games and to get to play against the Lions,\u201d Schmidt<\/a> told reporters last month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to deprive someone of the opportunity of playing against the Lions<\/a> if they\u2019re not going to get the Test jersey at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we know that the Lions, you never get through unscathed, so we know that we\u2019re going to need people.\u201d<\/p>\n Criticism<\/p>\n That drew criticism from some observers, including veteran British writer Stephen Jones, who claimed it was a \u201cbetrayal\u201d of the Lions.<\/p>\n \u201cTo come all that way to play an inadequate side is a betrayal of an invitation to the Lions and this time they really should have put their foot down and had the strengths of opponents written into the tour contract. They did not. Why?\u201d Jones wrote in his Sunday Times column.<\/p>\n \u201cOtherwise, the Lions should have gone elsewhere. It is high time that they worked hard to develop another touring location so that they can, blatantly, hold to ransom one of the regular hosts. Sometimes, there just is no gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018They\u2019re supposed to beat those s*** teams\u2019 \u2013 Ex-Wallaby hits back after Joe Schmidt accused of \u2018betraying\u2019 the Lions<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n However, Schmidt has now suggested that some players who have not played for a while could well feature for their franchise against the famous touring team.<\/p>\n That could potentially include those that are returning from injury or individuals that play for teams who were knocked out before the Super Rugby Pacific play-offs.<\/p>\n \u2018Mix and match\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be a mix and match I think. There may be some guys named in the Wallaby<\/a> squad who don\u2019t actually join us when we assemble,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing we\u2019re conscious of is a) making sure our clubs are competitive and b) some of these guys haven\u2019t played \u2013 it\u2019ll be four or five weeks since they\u2019ll have played.<\/p>\n \u201cSo to get a game under their belt before they actually come into Wallaby camp may be the most advantageous situation for us.\u201d<\/p>\n The Wallabies also play a Test on July 6 against Fiji but Schmidt has previously been reluctant to state how strong that 23 would be.<\/p>\n