Former All Blacks coach Ian Foster has backed the Wallabies to take down the British and Irish Lions in July's Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Series.
Foster was unveiled as part of the AUNZ coaching staff for the July 12 game at the Adelaide Oval.
Tickets for the 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour are available here.
It's been referenced as the 'fourth Test,' and a host of fringe Wallabies are set to play in it.
The ex-All Blacks coach got a taste of what the Lions can produce in 2017 in the infamous draw series and backs the Wallabies to be able to go one better.
“Absolutely (they can win). I think we saw some significant growth last year," Foster told reporters.
“Clearly, I’ve worked closely with Joe over the year and I can just see the foundation pieces put in place.
"There’s a lot of work to be done and certainly seeing growth in some individuals during Super Rugby, which is great.
"Clearly there’ll be a lot of excitement from the players but the Wallabies are going to have to be at their best. This will be a tough Lions team dominated probably by Irish and English, I think...they will play a strong, structured set-piece game, and that’s an area that’s really going to challenge the Wallabies."
Foster believes continuity will be the biggest hurdle for the Lions to overcome.
They have just six games, including the AUNZ game, to band together before the first Test on July 19.
"The chinks are always going to be small when you combine four strong teams from the Northern Hemisphere; they’ve just come off a big Six Nations, and everything’s competitive," he explained.
“The experience of the Lions series is that they’re tough all the way through the group, 1-15. The challenge is in cohesion and how quickly you can get your team to believe in the style of game that you want to play.
“That’s generally where the home team has always had a little bit of an edge in the Lions series is that you know your style a bit clearer.
“So the real important thing is that the games leading up to the Test series is that the Lions get challenged in certain areas, and the Wallabies are able to pick their strategy based on what happens in those games. I think these build-up games are vital for the series, for the Wallabies to figure out where they want to play but you could see a game emerging for the Wallabies last year that I don’t think they’ll stray too far from.”
