Waugh confident Lions tours to Australia will endure the test of time

2 months ago 21

Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh is confident Australia will remain a long-term Lions destination, despite speculation Argentina could one day be added to the tour rotation alongside New Zealand and South Africa.

This is the ninth time the Lions have visited Australia and the tour is set to be the highest-attended in history, with the RA targeting half a million fans for the six tour matches and three Tests against the Wallabies. Under a new joint-venture organisational structure, the Lions and the host nation now share all commercial and government revenue.

“I’m very proud of our country, if you think about Australia as a country for the British and Irish Lions to tour, it’s a wonderful country,” Waugh said.

“If you look across our different cities and our different stadiums, we’re spoiled with what we have in our country.

“If I think about the importance of the Lions, it’s the history of the Lions and the traditions that go with the Lions going back to 1888 and the first Tests in 1899.

“We’re proud of our history with the Lions and think that partnership with the Lions is a long-standing one and it should endure the test of time.”

Waugh’s comments came after a week of tension between Lions management and Rugby Australia, sparked by Lions chief executive Ben Calveley saying on Monday that Australia coach Joe Schmidt risked breaching the tour agreement if he didn’t release Wallabies players for Lions tour matches.

Waugh and Calveley met on Wednesday in Perth, along with their respective executive teams, where the RA boss re-iterated the host union’s intention to release select Wallabies to their Super teams.

“Through [director of high performance] Peter Horne, Joe Schmidt and myself, we’re absolutely aligned on the planning of this tour and ensuring that players have the right exposure to what’s an incredible opportunity for them,” Waugh said.

“We know we need to compete, which is why we have Wallabies throughout all our (Super) teams and that’s always been part of our plan.

“We’ve always been very disciplined around meeting agreements that we have with anyone and this situation is no different to any other agreement that we hold.”

Meanwhile, RA has presented an offer to Taniela Tupou, but Waugh understands that the tighthead prop is attracting large offers from overseas.

A key member of the Wallabies’ squad preparing to face the Lions, Tupou has been heavily linked with a move to French giants Racing 92 when his contract with RA finishes at the end of this season.

Racing has a history of attracting some of the biggest stars in the game, including South Africa’s World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi.

If Tupou moves to France, he will face a 26-game season in Top 14 as opposed to Super Rugby’s 14 fixtures, not including the rest policy for Wallabies.

“He’s a very important player in our system, we saw that through some Test matches last year,” Waugh said.

“I think what you’re seeing is the right-hand side of the scrum is critical to laying the platform for the team to play and Taniela has done well in that regard. It’s very important going into the Lions series.

“We’re working through what post-Lions looks like for Taniela. Clearly, he’s got a market internationally. We’re working through those elements. Most importantly right now is performance against the Lions.”

While Tupou is likely to depart Australia for France, Waugh and his team remain in discussions with two-time John Eales medallist Rob Valetini who has expressed his wish to do a sabbatical in France.

“We’re pretty open-minded and pretty creative around how we can ensure that we get the best out of our players in our market,” Waugh said.

“We’ve seen that with Len Ikitau and what we’ve done to support Len, which essentially ensures that we keep Len in our system.

“And Bobby V [Valetini], similarly, we have quite an open mind. Clearly we need to ensure that player welfare is front of mind and playing back-to-back seasons in one of the toughest positions in the game is not easy.”

All nine matches of The British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia are live & on demand on Stan Sport, with Wallabies Tests in 4K. All Test matches live and free on Channel 9 & 9Now.

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