Sir John Kirwan has ripped into Joe Schmidt and the Wallabies after they went 2-0 down in the British and Irish Lions series.
Australia succumbed 29-26 to the famous touring side in Melbourne last week despite being 18 points ahead on the half-hour mark.
The Lions showed impressive resilience to come back into the match, but Kirwan criticised some of Schmidt’s in-game decisions, as well as his comments afterwards.
Although they have an opportunity to gain some consolation in the third Test in Sydney on Saturday, the series has already been lost.
‘A huge difference’ for the Wallabies
“[Rob] Valetini and [Will] Skelton made a huge difference. I would not have put them on the GPS,” he said on the Rivals podcast.
“I listened to the post-match press conference and… just run them (Valetini and Skelton) until they can’t run would be my theory.
“I remember playing with a guy called Peter Fatialofa, who was the worst trainer but the best player. He would just go and go and go, and keep going.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime and I wouldn’t have taken them off.”
Although it was later revealed that Valetini had suffered an injury, with Kirwan speaking before Thursday’s team announcement, Skelton was also withdrawn surprisingly early in Test two.
After their departures, the Lions began to get on top and the Australian dam burst in the final 25 minutes with the tourists touching down twice to win the game and the series.
Following the encounter, Schmidt and captain Harry Wilson stressed that they are a team which is still developing, but the All Blacks legend was disgusted by those comments in the midst of a Lions series.
“The second thing, and what surprised me about the press conference, was the Australians were talking like they are a second-tier nation – developing young players and getting better,” he said.
“That is just bull****, this is Australia, this is one of the best teams in the world. This is the bloody two-time World Cup champions, I just don’t understand the dialogue at the moment.”
Super Rugby concerns
Kirwan feels the discussion should be different and he returned to his concerns about Super Rugby and whether it is conducive for getting players ready for Test rugby.
“The dialogue should be, is Super Rugby now preparing New Zealand and Australia for Test match rugby like the northern hemisphere does?” he added.
“Coming out and saying: ‘We’re a young team, we’re still learning our style of play’, that is not acceptable from a top-tier nation as far as I’m concerned.
“I think you’ve got to be really careful with that dialogue.
“I felt for Australia because I would have loved to have seen them win and it go to the last game, so I was pretty gutted for them, but I don’t like listening to them saying they’re a developing side.
“If it was South Africa, I would say: ‘Too bad’, if it was New Zealand, I would say: ‘What are you talking about, we’re a top-tier nation’. That really surprised me.”