22 July 2025
Good morning G&GRs and welcome to another Tuesday’s news. It feels like a bit of a bonus episode today, starting with news from the weekend and emerging Lions stories, and we have a game this evening to look forward to. A quick turn around from the weekend to the game tonight. So let’s start with the First Nations & Pasifika v Lions team lists and then move on to some Lions related news and finish with player ratings for the Wallabies from the weekend.
First Nations & Pasifika v Lions
In what will hopefully be a more competitive match than the AUNZ v Lions game, English veteran Owen Farrell will lead the Lions when they run on to Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. The Lions will of course field a pretty handy squad as they are all international players, and while there are some new squad members in the team there’s a core of players that have been on tour since the beginning, so the locals will have their work cut out for them.
The tourist’s side courtesy of Instagram is.
The locals have also assembled a good side, and should give a good account of themselves.
Great to see some developing players getting a run with Ieli and Pearce in particular testing themselves against some very experienced props. There’ve been a few calls for LSL to be in the Wallabies squad, I think Daugunu has been excellent all year and Andy Muirhead keeps on putting in good performances for the Brumbies. And of course there’s Taniela who’s been down on confidence recently, gee I hope he goes well.
We saw with the AUNZ match that cohesion, particularly defensively, fell short of the mark; hopefully the coaches, Kefu, Kepu, Tana Umaga, Simon Raiwalui and Glen Ella have been able to pull the team together.
Lions news
There’s plenty of news about the Lions and Australia in the aftermath of the first Test. One of the stories on Planet Rugby cast some doubt over Joe McCarthy’s fitness after the Test citing a plantar fasciitis concern with Scottish lock Gregor Brown drafted into the squad and on to the bench for the Pasifika game. Any sort of foot injury would make playing difficult and, hopefully, it doesn’t develop into a long term injury. Gregor Brown joins fellow Scots Darcy Graham, Rory Sutherland and Ewan Ashman in the Lions squad for the game tonight.
Wallabies news
Coach Joe Schmidt will have some choices to make this week with fan favourites Rob Valetini, and Will Skelton likely to be fit and available. Articles on line indicated that Valetini might have been ready to play in Brisbane, but the selectors took the longer term view instead. Personally, I think it’s OK to be conservative rather than rush him back to risk him being less effective, or cop another injury.
It’ll be interesting to see which way the coaches go when the team is named later this week, my preferred team would be a bit different than Bris’s on Monday.
Wallabies Player Ratings
It’s a Tuesday after a Wallabies Test match, so it’s time for some player ratings. These are my thoughts based on hazy recollections from Saturday night, and rewatching the ball in play replay on Stan on Sunday night.
Just a reminder of the G&GR scoring system.
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
0 – Didn’t make it on, or no meaningful involvement
Wallabies v the British and Irish Lions
- James Slipper – Held up the scrum, and the scrum was dominant against the Lions throughout. 5
- Matt Faessler – The Wallabies lineout struggled, and a key missed throw in the beginning of the second half led to a runaway Lions try. The scrum was better though. 5
- Allan Alaalatoa – Earned penalties from good scrummaging, and kept on tackling. 6
- Nick Frost – Wasn’t a dominant performance from the big man, but grew into the game, kept on tackling and threatened the Lions lineout. 5
- Jeremy Williams – Our lineout struggled, but so did the Lions, and Williams was part of that. 5
- Nicholas Champion de Crespigny – On debut he held his own, put one massive hit on Earls or Curry, and will be better for the experience. Expect him to make way for Bobby V this week. 5
- Fraser McReight – Made a few turnovers and linked with Wilson a few times. Was one of the better Wallabies forwards. 6
- Harry Wilson – Has copped some flak for kicking the ball out after the final hooter, but 8 points down, the most likely outcome was a turnover and Lions try for a more decisive victory. Ran and tackled all night. 6
- Jake Gordon – Kicking was OK, covering tackles were OK, but the breakdown was a mess, and he struggled to get the ball out quickly enough. Not sure if he ran the ball at all. 4
- Tom Lynagh – Missed the kick to touch to end the first half, but otherwise was good. His ability to read the play and get back in cover is top class, and deserves another go this week. 6
- Harry Potter – Tried throughout the game, a mis-field led to a 50-22 and pressure on Australia early. Not many tests into his career, and will learn from a tough night out. 5
- Len Ikitau – Looks out of place at 12 and isn’t making the most of his season form for the Brumbies. Charged into the defensively line all night. 6
- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – Tried to impose himself on the game, quite a few carries, and would maybe be better used on the wing. We’ll see. 4
- Max Jorgensen – Was good with the ball all night, missed a tackle but covered well to stop a Lions try in the first half. Scored a fantastic try. 7
- Tom Wright – Was well contained, no rocks moments, but couldn’t find any key diamond moments either. Was solid. 6
- Billy Pollard – Upped the energy when he came on. Carried well and continued the strong scrummaging. 6
- Angus Bell – Added running power and kept the scrum going. 6
- Tom Robertson – The scrum kept going, can’t remember too much open field play. 5
- Tom Hooper – Was part of the bench that got the Wallabies on the front foot. 6
- Carlo Tizzano – Scored a try and put in a good shift coming off the bench. 6
- Tate McDermott – Added plenty of energy and scored a try that few others could. 6
- Ben Donaldson – Was solid after being subbed on for Lynagh. 5
- Andrew Kellaway – Got on with 12 minutes to go. Can’t remember too many involvements. let me know.
By comparison, if I had to, I’d score the Lions between 1 and 2 points higher. At the end of the game, the Wallabies fell short against a good Lions team,
Anyway let me know what you think.
