England centurion Ben Youngs has ripped into the Wallabies and says the British & Irish Lions would be better served by returning to South Africa rather than touring Australia next year.
Youngs’ comments come after the Wallabies were torn to shreds by Argentina in the fourth round of the Rugby Championship, suffering a 67-27 defeat in Santa Fe.
Joe Schmidt’s charges led 20-3 after the opening 29 minutes, but were blown off the park in what was their biggest-ever defeat.
The Wallabies are set to host the British & Irish Lions series next year, and have just a handful of fixtures to prepare for the first Test next July.
Youngs, who was part of the Lions’ previous tour of Australia in 2013, reviewed the latest round of the Rugby Championship on the For the Love of Rugby podcast, where he hailed Leicester Tigers teammate Julian Montoya for reaching 100 caps for Argentina, before tearing into the Wallabies.
“I was a bit worried for him [Montoya] when they were down by 20 points to three and I’m thinking ‘Oh come on like you don’t wanna see that, we want to see Julian win on his 100th cap,’” Youngs said. ‘Then they absolutely smoked them second-half, like blew them away.
“And Australia, I don’t know, I’ve been really patient with Australia because I think in Joe Schmidt they have an obviously proven very, very good coach.
“They beat Wales in the summer and you’re kind of watching them and they get beaten by South Africa. I’ve been very sort of like, well they’re kind of like building towards something and then wah boom, a loss like that happens and you’re a bit like you don’t get beaten like that in a Test match like that very often, if not never, but to that level, you’re thinking, ‘What on Earth has happened there?’
“But Argentina just blew them away. By the end, Argentina caught a kick-off and ran the length of the field and scored again.
“I’m thinking like, blimey, that’s dark like proper dark and it’s just not good to see for Aussie rugby.”
The 2021 Lions tour of South Africa was overshadowed by the global pandemic, which saw games played in empty stadiums.
“I’m looking at and thinking the Lions are better off going to South Africa and touring there. Given that the last time they went there was no fans allowed,” Youngs added.
“I watched that and I just thought, I’m not sure where they’re heading and they’ve got a few more games left, then they’re going to come over the Autumn – they could leave that looking pretty bleak and then obviously got a Lions Tour to host.
“At the moment, if you’re a Lions fan going out there [to Australia], you going to have a hell of a tour, like you are going to watch the Lions run riot. If I’m going on the performances at the moment and the power and the absolute strength and depth that’s available to the Lions selectors, I think they can have a field day out there.”
Photo: EJ Langner/Gallo Images
The post ‘B&I Lions better off going to South Africa’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
