These are your latest rugby headlines on Tuesday, July 29.The Lions beat the Wallabies in Melbourne to take a 2-0 lead in the series (Image: Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

These are your latest rugby headlines on Tuesday, July 29.

Wallabies hit back at Warburton accusation

Australia lock Nick Frost has hit back at suggestions that his team-mate Carlo Tizzano dived after being cleared out by Jac Morgan in the final seconds of his side’s 26-29 defeat to the British and Irish Lions in Melbourne. The second Test – and with it, the series – was decided in controversial fashion, as Hugo Keenan’s last-gasp try was preceded by a challenge from Morgan that has sparked debate across world rugby.

The Welshman cleared out Tizzano at the final ruck before the try, with the Wallabies flanker falling to the ground in dramatic fashion as he protested to referee Andrea Piardi. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.

As Keenan crossed for the crucial score, Tizzano’s team-mates and coaches alleged that he had been taken out illegally, with head coach Joe Schmidt claiming that the decision not to penalise Morgan went against rugby’s “push for player safety”.

However, some former Lions have not only defended Morgan’s actions, but accused Tizzano of ‘diving’, with ex-England star James Haskell tearing into his behaviour and calling for him to be red-carded.

“Only bit of foul play and nonsense in that incident was the Australian player diving,” he told The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast. “That should have been red-carded because that is utter crap.”

Former Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton directed a similar accusation at Tizzano, as he wrote in his column for The Times that the Western Force player had “made a real meal of it”.

“[It’s] something I really don’t like,” he added. “I appreciate that the contact may have been on the shoulder/neck line but additional simulation is something we don’t want in the game.”

Those accusations were put to Frost as he addressed the media in Sydney, with the towering second row describing them as both “disappointing” and fuel for the third Test this weekend.

“All those things we have spoken about, it’s another thing to add into the pot to get up for the game, I guess,” he said.

“Maybe it is disappointing that they say that. We are hoping to go out and put our best foot forward as a team and as a nation.”

“Carlo is there [contesting the ball],” Frost added. “He is a competitor, like he always is. He is trying to get on the ball as a seven. He puts his hands out.

“He is there first, and he gets hit pretty hard with a full-force clean-out. It is what it is. We can’t do anything about a decision.”

Refusing to blame Australia’s loss on that one incident, however, he continued: “There are so many moments up until that where we could have capitalised on a bit more on… those touch points that we have got to go back and review on with how can we be better in different facets of the game?

“We had a pretty decent lead in that first half, and we gave away a few tries for half-time. There are key moments that it doesn’t always come down to the rest of us or right at the end. So there’s a whole span of things that are in our favour that we can control.

“End of the day, you can’t really rely right at the end for a decision that. If you’re relying on that, you have probably haven’t done enough work throughout the game.”

Wallabies lose veteran prop for final Lions clash

Australia prop Allan Alaalatoa will miss the final Test against the British and Irish Lions in Sydney on Saturday.

The tighthead suffered a shoulder injury at the MCG on Saturday night as the Wallabies were unable to stop the Lions wrapping up a series victory in Melbourne.

Alaalatoa was replaced by Tom Robertson at half-time, with the Wallabies’ scrum struggling in the second-half.

Robertson could start in Sydney, as could Reds prop Zane Nonggorr, while loosehead James Slipper could move across – allowing Angus Bell to start.

The Wallabies have called up former All Black loosehead Aidan Ross as injury cover.

Alternatively, Joe Schmidt could bring in departing prop Taniela Tupou, who was impressive against the Lions for the First Nations and Pasifika XV last week.

Tupou is joining Racing 92 and is expected to fall further out of favour with the Wallabies, but he could still be an option on a one-off basis.

Wales star explains name change

Former Wales Women skipper Hannah Dallavalle has opened up about being relieved of the captaincy and explained the reason why she is now playing under a new name.

The 28-year-old had led the national team since taking over the armband from Siwan Lillicrap at the 2022 Rugby World Cup, but new head coach Sean Lynn called for fresh leadership ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup, naming Alex Callender and Kate Williams as co-captains.

Dallavalle – who went through two Wooden Spoon finishes at the last two Six Nations, as well as a damaging player contract dispute with the WRU before being relieved of the captaincy – has admitted that she was initially disappointed to lose the armband but is now starting to enjoy a more relaxed role around camp.

“It has been a tough transition, people don’t see what’s happened behind closed doors,” she told the BBC. “It was Lynny’s decision to make that change, I had no control over it. It was a decision that I didn’t take lightly but I’m working on myself, concentrating on my own performance and what I bring to the team.

“Unless you’ve done captaincy before, you don’t really know what the demands of a captain are off the field, maybe that took a toll. I’ve definitely got more time now.

“I’m actually going out with the girls to the beach and stuff,” she added. “I’m still putting the work in for rugby, but I’m definitely much more relaxed off the field.”

Dallavalle scored the decisive try as Lynn recorded his first win as Wales coach in a 21-12 victory over Australia on Saturday, as she played for the first time under her new name.

The centre got married last summer but had continued to play under her maiden name of Jones before changing it ahead of the clash with the Wallaroos.

“It’s nothing exciting really,” she said of the reason for the name change. “My passport was expiring and I didn’t want to pay extra to change my name earlier, that’s the real reason behind it,” she joked.

“It was a nice little surprise for [husband] Deano because he didn’t know whether I was going to take the Dallavalle name, but it was always in the pipeline.

“It just happened to come at the time the captaincy changed and everyone thought it was because of that, but it’s actually because I didn’t want to pay to change my passport until it expired.”

Farrell warned over selection mistake

Andy Farrell has been warned not to go easy on Australia in the third Test with a series whitewash on the line.

The Lions wrapped up the series in Melbourne last weekend to take an unassailable 2-0 lead to Sydney this weekend.

Former Lion Brian Moore feels Farrell must show a New Zealand-type mentality and be ruthless in his selection – meaning fringe players should be overlooked in order to preserve their unbeaten record Down Under.

“There must be a temptation to make wholesale changes this coming Saturday,” he wrote in the Telegraph.

“Farrell could, rightly, make the point that he has proved his critics wrong thus far. He could go further, saying it would be right to reward the loyalty of fringe squad players by allowing them to experience Lions’ Test rugby. That step would be a mistake.

“There is much made about whether a player is a ‘Test animal’. If this means anything, it is that such players do not want to relinquish their positions to charitable selections, whatever support they receive from colleagues. That backing should be the minimum expected of a Lions squad member.

“Choosing the strongest possible squad for the third Test in a best way to show respect to Australian rugby and both sets of fans.”