Aussies have ability to spring a surprise

IT would be a mistake to underestimate the abilities of Joe Schmidt, especially considering what the Kiwi achieved as a head coach with Leinster and Ireland.

- JEREMY GUSCOTT

However, the significance of the Australia Grand Slam tour of the Home Unions this autumn cannot be underestimated, with the 2025 Lions tour only nine months away. The Lions is a rivalry as intense as it gets for Australian rugby, so there will be huge expectation from all sides ahead of the tour.

What happens against England on Saturday, and after that against Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, on consecutive November weekends will be a clear measure of how competitive the Wallabies will be against the Lions.

Schmidt's job, as with any head coach, is to connect with the Australian players in such a way that they feel they are about to embark on an amazing journey which could be the highlight of their rugby careers.

Given Schmidt's coaching record, it's unlikely that he has got the early bounce that he wanted since taking over as Wallaby coach in the summer. After a good early run with two home wins over Wales, and another against Georgia, reality struck in the Rugby Championship when Australia finished bottom of the table with five losses and only one win.

It means that Australia are now as low in the World Rankings as they have been, and add that to the huge disappointment a year ago of being knocked out of the 2023 World Cup in the pool stages for the first time, Schmidt's team is desperate for some uplift.

It also lacks household names, which is strange because during my career you could reel off the names of the players in Wallaby teams without thinking, especially after they won World Cup titles in 1991 and 1999. That applied in some measure even up to the 2015 World Cup, when Australia beat England in the pool stage before going on to reach the final.