{"id":276725,"date":"2025-11-11T02:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T02:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/276725\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T02:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T02:45:08","slug":"when-we-beat-the-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/276725\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018When we beat the Lions\u2026\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Australia<\/a> rallied to defeat the British & Irish Lions<\/a> 22-12 in Sydney on August 2, the group still had \u201chard conversations\u201d in the pursuit of further growth \u2013 it\u2019s a constant within a professional environment like the Wallabies, whether they win or lose.<\/p>\n

After an all-time classic Lions Series clash at the MCG, the Wallabies bounced back on a rainy night in the Harbour City, as they avoided a series sweep. It was a special occasion for the Wallabies, who backed that result up with another spectacular triumph later that month.<\/p>\n

In the opening round of The Rugby Championship, Australia trailed two-time defending World Cup winners South Africa<\/a> 22-0. While the Wallabies were down, they weren\u2019t out, piling on 38 unanswered points to win at Johannesburg\u2019s Emirates Airline Park.<\/p>\n

But again, it wasn\u2019t a perfect performance.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies have only won two of their last eight matches, coming off a 26-19 Quilter Nations Series defeat to Italy. In a high-performance environment led by coach Joe Schmidt, the Wallabies see the value in honest conversations, as they chase an upset win against Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have those conversations, even when we win. I just briefly remember after the third Lions Test when we beat the Lions, there were still hard conversations happening,\u201d Wallabies prop Angus Bell<\/a> told reporters in Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s being in a professional environment and being with a team that holds high standards, even after a really great game at Ellis Park for example, there were still opportunities out there for us to be even better and put more pressure on and exert ourselves on the other team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game, win, loss or draw, no game is perfect as we all know.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week was tough, this morning was really tough, but as I said before it\u2019s about not taking it personally and just trying to get better. As a group with our connected we are, we do that every week, week in, week out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell packed down at loosehead prop in the Wallabies run-on side, joining Matt Faessler<\/a> and Taniela Tupou<\/a> in the front row against the Azzurri. Bell made four tackles and carried the ball six times, a fairly quiet performance on a difficult night for the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

Code-hopper Carter Gordon<\/a> put the Australians into the lead with a runaway try in the 50th minute, with Andrew Kellaway<\/a> adding the extras off the goal-kicking tee. But the match\u2019s momentum swung in favour of the Azzurri in a big way soon after.<\/p>\n

Louis Lynagh scored with about 20 minutes left, before the ref showed Joseph-Auksuo Suaalii a yellow card for a high shot in the lead-up to the winger\u2019s try. Former Melbourne Rebels<\/a> flyer Monty Ioane<\/a> added another five points to Italy\u2019s lead three minutes later, putting them in front.<\/p>\n

Italy<\/a> hadn\u2019t led since midway through the first half, with two penalty goals from fly-half Paolo Garbisi<\/a> giving the hosts a 6-0 lead. Fast-forward to the final quarter of the match, the Italians held on for a famous win \u2013 their second over the Wallabies in three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said we weren\u2019t disappointed. Every time you pull on a Wallabies jersey and represent your country and your people back home, it\u2019s incredibly special,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe missed a lot of opportunities out there but all credit goes to Italy, they took all their opportunities, they were hungry and hard on the ball, and they executed extremely well.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one in the group enjoyed that change room after. I guess that just fuels the hunger to go out there and stick to our systems and then build into a really good performance this weekend against Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been alluded to everywhere that Ireland<\/a> are a top-three nation in the world and they\u2019ve seriously come a long way and are now a real powerhouse within rugby. We\u2019re just excited for the challenge and to right a few wrongs and take the opportunities that present themselves this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wallabies have two more matches to play before their international campaign comes to an end, starting with Ireland this weekend in Dublin. Australia lost a thriller last year at the Aviva Stadium, falling by just three points.<\/p>\n

In their final attempt to surge up the rankings ahead of the Rugby World Cup<\/a> Draw early next month, the Wallabies will face France<\/a> in less than two weeks. As Bell explained, this is a Wallabies side that\u2019s desperate to end their season with some wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re putting heaps of emphasis on our growth and getting better each week,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome execution errors really affected us on the weekend and they\u2019re things we\u2019re really trying to fix but we\u2019re excited for the weekend. Any challenge is a challenge\u2026 it\u2019s a privilege every time you pull on that jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to get a result this weekend and we know these next two games are really important for us as a group and leading into the future. We\u2019re going to be ready and put our best foot forward to get wins in both those Tests.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Australia rallied to defeat the British & Irish Lions 22-12 in Sydney on August 2, the group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-276725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}