Coach Joe Schmidt’s squad targets fast start to avoid repeat of last year’s disappointments
The Wallabies are relying on a settled squad and an extra week of training to guard against the same slow start to the international season that scuppered their chances of winning the series against the Lions in the first 120 minutes of last year’s season.
Australia will face Ireland at the sold-out Allianz Stadium on Saturday in the first of three Nations Championship Tests in July.
The Irish sit third in the international rankings and almost half the touring squad consists of players from the powerful province of Leinster, which played in the Champions Cup final last month and won the URC final against a Springbok-laden Bulls team nine days ago.
This is one of the toughest tests possible for the Wallabies and they cannot afford to repeat their slow start to the 2025 Test season. In a very rusty game, Joe Schmidt’s men came out looking to beat Fiji in Newcastle and were 24-7 down to the Lions after 42 minutes of the opening test in Brisbane.
The Wallabies broke back in the second half but still lost by eight points, and then a controversial Lions try in the final minute of the second Test ended the hosts’ chances of winning the series.
A third Test win was one of a handful of good ones to follow, but in many of them the Wallabies’ habit of slow starts continued to be a problem. Australia routinely fell behind and sometimes the Wallabies overcame the deficit, while at other times – including a winnable Bledisloe Cup Test at Eden Park – the extra work proved too much.
“In Test match football you have to start fast and be good for 80 minutes,” said Wallabies star Max Jorgensen.
“We couldn’t play a few of the games we had last year, so that’s what we want to try and improve on: consistently good games where we start fast and are sharp throughout the 80 minutes.
“If you look at training this week and last week, he’s been really sharp, he’s been performing very well, so we look ready for the first half.”
The Wallabies trained in an open session at North Sydney Oval on Saturday. It looked like an established squad and, apart from a handful of missing faces such as Jake Gordon and Nick Frost, the majority of the squad to face Ireland are likely to have left last year.
This adjustment, and the extra week of training in Sydney that came as a result of no Australian team qualifying for the Super Rugby semi-finals, were described by Schmidt as positive factors in getting off to a strong start against Ireland.
“It’s been a very similar lineup for almost two or three years now,” Jorgensen said. “There are a few new faces and that’s always nice, but we’re developing really well now. We’ve played a lot of games together and it’s starting to get a little easier.”
Although buoyed by big wins, the Wallabies’ campaign last year ended badly, going winless in the Spring Tour. They lost 46-19 to Ireland and Jorgensen said there was nothing to hide behind the excuse of the team running out of gas at the end of a big year.
“Everyone knows that at the end of the season you won’t be as good as you were at the start, but that’s no excuse,” he said.
“We just had to get better. We can’t go on the spring tour and lose four games. We really have to get better, and that’s what we’re striving for this year.”
Ireland are now at this point in the season and many of their stars could potentially be tired given they are touring with the Lions and starting their domestic season shortly after.
But assistant coach and former Test captain Paul O’Connell said most of the Lions stars had been given a few months off and fatigue would not be a factor.
“A lot of them started quite late. The first game of the season for some of the players was against New Zealand in November,” O’Connell said.
“There are a few players who haven’t had any injuries all year. They’ll probably start more games than others. But some players have had knocks throughout the year, which isn’t ideal, but it gives them a bit of a break.”
“It’s a physical break, but maybe it also gives them a mental break because that’s probably the most important thing.
“The impression I’ve had since the kids have arrived is that their enthusiasm to work, their enthusiasm to train, their enthusiasm to do the job was huge.”
Iain Payten is senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
