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The British & Irish Lions are set to face a number of former All Blacks with Rugby Australia’s chief executive, Phil Waugh, confident players based in Japan can be recruited for the Anzac fixture in July. Waugh also confirmed that players who have represented Australia and New Zealand but subsequently switched nationality will not be considered, ending Israel Folau’s hopes of appearing in another Lions series and ruling out Charles Piutau.
The Lions will lock horns with an invitational Australia and New Zealand side for the first time since 1989. When the fixture was announced in 2023, the then Australia head coach, Eddie Jones, turned his nose up, saying: “I don’t want to be involved with the Kiwis.” With the former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster leading the combined side, Waugh believes the fixture in Adelaide will have star appeal.
All Blacks involved in their summer fixtures against France will not be eligible but Waugh pointed to those playing in Japan, a list that includes Richie Mo’unga, Brodie Retallick, the former captain Sam Cane and Aaron Smith, who all faced the Lions in 2017, as potential members of the New Zealand contingent.
“Ian Foster being announced as the coach is helpful because he has existing relationships with New Zealand players,” said Waugh. “We want to make that a real festival game. Big name players to maximise the exposure. If you think about all the Australians and New Zealanders in Japan, we’re pretty excited about filling out that team.”
Folau was a shining light for the Wallabies during the 2013 Lions series but was sacked by Rugby Australia in 2019 after homophobic posts on social media. He switched allegiances to Tonga, making his debut in 2022, and is now in Japan. Folau recently expressed a desire to be considered for the Anzac match before Waugh shut down his potential return on the basis that he had played for Tonga. Folau has since reacted angrily, suggesting that he was indirectly encouraged to express an interest by Rugby Australia.
After an autumn revival under Joe Schmidt when the Wallabies beat England and Wales, hopes are high they will be competitive against the Lions. Schmidt is set to leave his role after the series and while the former England head coach Stuart Lancaster has been linked with the job, Waugh strongly suggested Rugby Australia would be turning elsewhere, with Les Kiss the clear favourite.
“We’ve been pretty disciplined about not talking about candidates,” said Waugh. “We want to make sure it’s the right cultural fit and the right capability. Our biggest focus is continuity and stability.
“We don’t want to have a complete reset and be starting again, given where we were in 2023 and where we are now. We want progression rather than disrupting things by starting again. It’s not just about the head coach, it’s about the management team and Super Rugby.”
Meanwhile, the Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney has broken his silence since facing down a grassroots rebellion last week, writing in a letter to the organisation’s members that “it has not been an easy time for me personally”.
Last week Sweeney comfortably won a vote of no confidence at an RFU Special General Meeting - triggered after it was revealed he received a £358,000 bonus last year, taking his overall remuneration to £1.1m - before the union’s interim chairman Bill Beaumont promised “meaningful change”.
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Sweeney stayed silent throughout the SGM but in a letter to the RFU’s members, he has echoed Beaumont’s sentiments, pledging governance reform after a motion was passed to expedite plans to do so, improved communication and more support for grassroots clubs to grow participation.
He writes: “It has been a very challenging period for rugby off the field in England. The division sowed by those who brought forward the original SGM motion has played out aggressively in the media and it would be remiss of me not to admit that it has not been an easy time for me personally.
“Ultimately this process will help us to re-engage our membership and push forward changes we have long wanted to implement and our members delivered a clear message that they wanted the leadership team we have here to get on with the job and make improvements.”
