British and Irish Lions: Australia head coach Joe Schmidt sees 'promising signs' ahead of tour
Watch the British and Irish Lions series on Sky Sports; The tour begins next month with the first Test against Australia taking place on July 19 in Brisbane; Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt will continue to assemble his squad as teams finish in the Super Rugby Pacific championship
Friday 30 May 2025 10:30, UK
Head coach Joe Schmidt sees "promising signs" for Australia ahead of the British and Irish Lions tour.
Australia are in a rebuilding phase ahead of this series and the next World Cup.
The Wallabies failed to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2023. The Australian team had six wins in 13 tests in a 2024 season that ended in a 22-19 loss to Ireland in Dublin.
Schmidt, a former Ireland coach, understands the scale of the task his side faces against the Lions. He will continue assembling his squad as Australia's domestic teams bow out of the Super Rugby Pacific championship.
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He said: "It needs a series of really good performances, and it's something that we're aspirational about. We work really hard behind the scenes to try and get into the mix.
"Some of the promising signs are the way the Wallabies finished off last year. [and] the way the Super Rugby teams have competed this year, and it's our challenge to try and continue that pathway.
"The one thing I would know about high-performance improvement, it's never linear. You're going to dip and trough and if there's one team that will attempt to make it a trough, it's the Lions with the strength in depth they're bringing.
"I'd know a lot of those players personally, coached a lot of them, it's one of those things that I know is going to be a massive challenge that we're all incredibly excited about."
The Lions only come to Australia once every 12 years, and the excitement of the tour is something Schmidt wants to capitalise on.
"The Lions is something that tends to reach beyond just the rugby union fans because it's such an infrequent tour people just get interested and we'd love to earn the support of all those folks by being really competitive," Schmidt said.
"Where that leads us? I'd love to think we're in the hunt."
Sky Sports will show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches exclusively live.
