{"id":209820,"date":"2025-06-24T07:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T07:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/209820\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T07:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T07:44:08","slug":"beale-picks-out-lions-danger-man-russell-as-biggest-threat-to-australia-lions-tour-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/209820\/","title":{"rendered":"Beale picks out Lions\u2019 \u2018danger man\u2019 Russell as biggest threat to Australia | Lions tour 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former Wallabies back Kurtley Beale has singled out Finn Russell as the biggest threat to Australia\u2019s prospects of victory against the visiting British & Irish Lions. Beale, a leading figure in the 2013 Lions series, has also warned his compatriots to brace themselves for a \u201cjuggernaut\u201d of a rugby experience when the tour kicks off this Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beale\u2019s infamous slip as he went to kick a potential match-clinching penalty in the first Test in Brisbane had a key bearing on the outcome 12 years ago. And the 36-year-old now believes Russell holds the key to the forthcoming series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played with him at Racing 92 and he\u2019s such a mercurial, unpredictable player,\u201d Beale said. \u201cWith a forward pack like he\u2019ll have in front of him, he can create a lot of damage. I think he\u2019ll be the danger man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s match-winners, in Beale\u2019s view, could well be the centre pairing of Len Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, assuming their forwards can also fulfil their part of the bargain. \u201cThey\u2019re our danger men if our forward pack can lay a platform up front that really challenges the Lions set piece,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be the determining factor in the end. Whichever side can get that quality ball there are going to be some quality backs thriving off the back of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Beale, who has 95 caps for the Wallabies, says he has come to terms with the late penalty slip that allowed the Lions to sneak away with a crucial 23-21 first Test win<\/a> 12 years ago. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for this question,\u201d he said after being briefly interrupted by a possum darting through the media huddle outside Western Force\u2019s headquarters. \u201cThat was obviously a real disappointment, an embarrassing moment. From that day onwards I\u2019ve worn studs! It was a crucial moment in the series, wasn\u2019t it? I was just very thankful to have strong teammates around me to pick me back up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still haven\u2019t watched it properly. But you learn from that and put yourself in those positions week in, week out in training to try and correct some wrongs. It\u2019s just an ongoing process and I feel like I\u2019ve done that now. As rugby players it\u2019s never ending \u2026 you\u2019re always learning, even at my age. You\u2019re continually working on your craft and goal-kicking for me has always been that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beale, only just back from a long-term achilles tendon injury<\/a>, may also bump into the Lions later in the tour when they face a First Nations & Pasifika XV in Melbourne. He senses an \u201camazing series\u201d lies just over the horizon and has been telling his younger teammates to make the most of a priceless sporting experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a juggernaut of a game: on the field the level and intensity and the skills required under pressure increases 10-fold,\u201d Beale said. \u201cI\u2019ve been sharing stories with a lot of the guys in the team here about just how big it\u2019s going to be and just making sure they enjoy it and embrace this week and the opportunity to play against some world-class players. It\u2019s just going to be an amazing series.<\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously the Lions had a disappointing loss against Argentina<\/a> but they\u2019ll be coming back firing and really wanting to start the series off on a positive note. We understand that but the focus for us is to put in a performance that we can proudly hang our hats on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Wallabies back Kurtley Beale has singled out Finn Russell as the biggest threat to Australia\u2019s prospects…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-209820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114737228267691629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}