Fisher, Wallabies energised by historic Lions Grand Slam preview

Wed, Oct 16, 2024, 3:18 AM
Nathan Williamson
by Nathan Williamson
The All Blacks host the Wallabies in Round 6 of The Rugby Championship in Wellington.

Wallabies assistant coach Laurie Fisher is ready to see where the team stands as they prepare to embark on a preview of next year's British and Irish Lions series.

The Wallabies will become the first team to play all four home nations the year before hosting a Lions series during their end-of-season tour.

Catch every game of the Spring Tour live, ad-free and exclusive on Stan Sport.

It begins on November 10 against England before clashes with Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

"It's certainly an opportunity to get a good look at northern hemisphere rugby, which is what we'll be experiencing on a Lions tour," Fisher said to the media. "We're playing the four teams that will make up that squad so it's a great opportunity to get an insight.

"We've had 16 debutants so far this year and a lot of them haven't played northern hemisphere-style of rugby so it's fantastic preparation.

“They’re games that you want to win. It’s a grand slam tour. You don’t want to look too far ahead but it’s an opportunity for us to get better and win a grand slam.” 

Fisher and the Wallabies understand the importance of securing wins on the tour, which looms as their final major allotment of matches before the Lions arrive on Australian shores.

The legendary coach was encouraged by improvements in the Rugby Championship as they continued to develop under coach Joe Schmidt.

“We’ve only got five Tests before we play the Lions. We’ve got a really clear understanding of how we want to play both sides of the ball so we’ve just got to get better now," Fisher believes.

“We’re really happy that in attack we’ve exposed plenty of opportunities, we just haven’t been able to execute on them. In defence, we’ve been able to shut sides down for long periods but then we made an error in system and we create opportunities for them.

“It’s an opportunity to engender belief and trust in what we’re doing and show that what we’re doing will get us to where we need to go but then expose them to where we need to get better.”

The Wallabies coaches concluded their camp in Canberra for NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies before heading to Queensland for a similar event with Queensland Reds and Western Force players ahead of the Spring Tour and Australia XV fixtures.

“There’s guys that need to play Rugby so the XV games are an opportunity for them to play but it’s all about preparing us for July/August next year," Fisher added.

“We want to expose as many people and give them an opportunity to show their capability.

“…There’s two sides going to Europe and we’ll do exactly the same in Brisbane on Thursday and Friday so everybody will be getting the same messaging, activities and opportunities to improve.”

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