Andy Farrell has given his verdict on the online abuse heaped on Wallaby back-rower Carlo Tizzano following last weekend’s ‘diving’ accusation following his breakdown clear-out by Jac Morgan in the lead-up to the try that clinched series victory for the British and Irish Lions.
The head coach also fielded a question about World Rugby’s reaction to the incident, where it was decided to keep the findings of their review in-house.
Asked about the online fallout from the Tizzano-Morgan collision, Farrell said: “Online abuse is, well, it’s clear and obvious, it’s disgusting. It shouldn’t be that way.”
Switching to the World Rugby review of the most talked about incident on the 2025 tour, Farrell replied: “You’re asking the wrong person, I mean, I don’t know what World Rugby are saying either. That’s their role, isn’t it? However, they want to deal with that. We just get on with the preparation for this week.”
“I’ve met a good few Welsh since…”
Morgan’s clear-out of Tizzano allowed the Lions to continue attacking in the Wallabies’ 22, and it ultimately resulted in the try being scored by Hugo Keenan, which clinched the 29-26 comeback win and moved the Lions into an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Test series.
Just two Wales players were originally chosen by Farrell to tour. Tomos Williams exited after a hamstring injury sustained in Perth, but Morgan forced his way onto the bench for the second Test to ensure the Welsh have representation at the business end of the trip.
“I have met a good few Welsh since, and they are forthright in coming up to me and shaking my hand, but I am delighted for Jack. He deserves it and that’s it, full stop. How he has performed when he was put in justifies that. That has to be at the forefront of our thinking.”
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Heading into the series finale in Sydney, Farrell was expecting both teams to perform even better than in Melbourne.
“A better one than the one that showed up in the second Test, that is what they will be expecting of themselves, and it’s exactly the same we’ll be thinking for our performance as well,” he said when asked what he expected from the Wallabies.
Victory in Saturday’s finale would see the Lions depart Australia having won all nine matches there following their pre-trip loss to Argentina in Dublin. Quizzed how he wants the 2025 Lions to be remembered, he said: “Hopefully it will be remembered for the type of rugby we played and how we went about it together. That’s it.
“We came here, wanted to win a series, we have achieved that, but we have a massive responsibility to make sure we finish this off with something we promised ourselves. So, it’s a big ask, but it’s something that we are determined to do.
“As you can imagine, it [3-0 in the Test series] would mean the world to us. It’s something we promised ourselves we were going to chase after and try our best to represent the group as best we possibly can, and obviously what goes along with that is representing the jersey and the brand of the British and Irish Lions, so we have a big responsibility this weekend.”
He has enjoyed the response of his players in rising to that task this week. “It’s nice coming on the back of a victory like the one at the MCG. But having said that, it’s been a great week as far as recovering, reflecting, etc.
“But when we came back into work on Tuesday afternoon, the process has been exactly the same. We have put ourselves in a position now that we are fortunate enough to go into the third Test and a lot to play for.”
Dwelling on his squad’s attitude, he added what impressed him most: “Just how much they care about the Lions, the Lions’ dream. How much it means to them when you package all that together, of what it takes to come together as a top-class outfit as far as a rugby team is concerned. That’s at the heart of it.
“It actually touches you, it does. It touches you in the sense of how much it means to them. For example, you come in after such a big victory on Saturday night, and I just left them to it because I couldn’t get a word in.
“You guys know they weren’t coming in for media either, because it just felt natural for them to just celebrate together, and the people that were celebrating the most were the guys that hadn’t put the shirt on. It says it all.
“And when you rock up Tuesday and announce the team to them on Wednesday morning, and you see the same again, people reacting, congratulating one another, and you get a type of training session that we got yesterday [Wednesday] afternoon, it says a lot about the squad.
“From day one, we said it’s not just about the squad. The only thing that matters is the squad, and that’s it, full stop. So, we have all been in this together from day one – every single one of us. There has been no separation. We have all trained together.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have played the day before or whatever, you always helped the next team that is going out there, and you all know that the modern-day game is always about the 23 that take the field, not the 15 anymore. But it’s way beyond that for us, and it was about the 38, the 41, or the 44, whichever way you want to look at it.”
Some Lions players have spoken this week about how they feel there is much more room for improvement, as they want the perfect performance. Perfection, though, wasn’t on Farrell’s mind. “I don’t think you ever do (get the perfect performance),” he said.
“If we put the first half of the first Test with the second half of the second Test together, would you get the perfect performance? It never really happens like that, you know.
“The simple reason is that at this type of level, two good quality sides are always going to cancel each other out somewhere along the line within the process of 80 or 85 minutes of rugby, and I suppose that is going to be the same again on Saturday.”