Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has urged his side to keep their attacking focus if they wish to defeat the British & Irish Lions.
Schmidt will name a squad for the warm-up Fiji Test at the end of Super Rugby Pacific, either just after the Final or when all Australian teams are out.
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From there, the squad for the Lions series will be locked in, with the first Test set for July 19.
The Wallabies will enter the series quietly confident off the back of a positive Spring Tour campaign.
They took down England and Wales before succumbing to Scotland and Ireland.
The defeat to the Irish still hurts Schmidt, not just because he wanted to get the better of his old side.
He was critical of the team’s conservative approach to invite pressure back on themselves, rather than keeping the pressure on Ireland.
It’s a fate he’s eager to avoid with the best of the British Isles heading Down Under.
“One of my biggest disappointments (of 2024) probably with the Irish game, you're 13-5 up at half-time and we all make a commitment that we're going to keep playing. We're going out to win the second half and then I felt like we tried to defend the lead,” he said to reporters.
“Defending a lead against a team that, whilst they weren't as efficient as they had been in Ireland, but they're still efficient enough that if they get in your 22 enough times and they get platforms of five-meter line-outs and those sort of things, that becomes our kryptonite.
“We're very, very sapped trying to defend those things and be as successful when they accumulate. For us, just committing to what we're doing will be really important.
“I don't think that we can come out against the Lions and say, ‘right, let's try to shut the game down’. They have power, skill, they have speed so they can play in a number of ways and whatever way they play we're going to have to try to play our game.”
This could lead Schmidt to select two openside flankers in his 23, with Carlo Tizzano pushing incumbent Fraser McReight all the way in 2025.
Tizzano is the current leading try-scorer in Super Rugby Pacific, and whilst the pair are unlikely to start together, Schmidt could see them in the same team for the Lions Tests.
“Everything's up for grabs. I do think that they're slightly different, but they're both very good,” he remarked.
“It's just about getting balance across your backrow. You need a line-out option, someone who can genuinely compete and put pressure on.
“…One of the ways to have maybe two out-and-out sevens is to have a 6-2 split. That's what some people are doing to allow themselves that luxury. It's not something that we've done, but it's something that we've discussed a number of times.”
