Larkham keen to unleash some Wallabies on B&I Lions
Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham is taking a country before club approach to selection for the British and Irish Lions, but is hopeful some Wallabies will return for the clash against the capital-based franchise.
After arriving in Perth for their opening tour match against the Western Force on Saturday, Lions boss Ben Calveley claimed Rugby Australia was in danger of breaching the tour agreement if they didn’t release their best Wallabies to the state teams the tourists will face.
This was brushed off by RA with Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt already freeing five Force players from his 36-strong squad, while on Wednesday hooker Matt Faessler and centre Hunter Paisami were given the green light to turn out for their Queensland side.
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (shoulder) and Seru Uru (knee) have also both been cleared to play for the Reds against the B&I Lions next Wednesday and push their case to return to the Wallabies squad.
Larkham, who was part of the triumphant 2001 Australian campaign, said he understood a Wallabies series win was the priority for the country.
“Knowing that the Wallabies have to get their preparation right going into that first game – they’ve got a game against Fiji on Sunday and we play on the Wednesday,” said the former great.
“And then 10 days later the Wallabies play their first Test against British and Irish Lions, so if some of our players aren’t playing for us in preparation for that first Test it’s certainly understandable.”
Bowing out in the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals earlier this month, the Brumbies have a proud record against the B&I Lions – in 2013 they became the first provincial side to post a victory on Australian soil in more than 40 years.
Larkham said they had shown vision of that win to the current crop and excitement, and pressure, was building ahead of the July 9 match in Canberra.
He said conversations were continuing about players who weren’t going to be used in the first Test in Brisbane on July 19 returning to bolster the Brumbies.
“We’re short in a couple of positions and we are reliant on some of those Wallabies coming back in,” he said, with the Brumbies providing 10 squad members and four training partners, with young prop Lington Ieli also joining the camp.
“Certainly those players who are training up there, we’re reliant on those guys coming back into the squad to play and then hopefully a couple of Test players come back into our team to play in that game as well.
“There’s a couple of conversations that have to happen with Rugby Australia at the back end of this week when they’ll know a little bit more around who they’re going to select for the Fiji game.
“Then we’ll know who we’re going to have available for our game against the Lions.”
Speaking from the Wallabies base in Sydney, Force flyhalf Ben Donaldson said he would happily play in Perth if released from the Test squad.
“Oh yeah, I think so … any chance you get to play against the Lions, you probably take it with both hands,” Donaldson said.
“I’m hearing it’s going to be a huge crowd out in Perth so it would be extremely exciting, especially off the back of the year we had at the Force this year.
“Even to play in front of the fans, just to give them something to cheer about to finish the year, it would have been awesome.”
