Waugh Confident Lions Will Return

Rugby Australia chief hails tour's success, with Wallabies giving visitors a 'fierce battle'

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SYDNEY - Rugby Australia (RA) chief executive Phil Waugh was disappointed the Wallabies lost the Test series against the British and Irish Lions, but believes the tour was a huge success and talk that the tourists might not return in 12 years' time was well wide of the mark.

Some media pundits had suggested after the Lions comfortably won the first Test in Brisbane that Australian rugby was so weak they no longer deserved their place on the touring rotation alongside New Zealand and South Africa.

Waugh thought the competitiveness of the Wallabies in the second Test in Melbourne, where they came within seconds of victory, and the third in Sydney, where they won 22-12, had firmly quashed any speculation about the Lions not returning.

"Australia is a really important home for the Lions tour every 12 years," he told reporters at the conclusion of the series.

"On the field, I think the accumulative points, they got one point better than us and one try better than us, and it was a really fierce Test battle.

"So I think any of that speculation, it was shut down by a number of people, including their CEO (Ben Calveley), who spoke at various events committing to return to Australia."