British and Irish Lions tour: First Nations and Pasifika Invitational side provides blueprint for Wallabies

They’re supposed to be a group of “jilted rejects”. Yet against the odds, the First Nations and Pasifika Invitational showed the Wallabies how they can keep their series against the British and Irish Lions alive.

The Wallabies should be embarrassed that it took a team of jilted rejects to show them what to do but finally Australian rugby at least has a blueprint on how to topple the mighty British & Irish Lions in Saturday’s second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

If the Wallabies do lose the match, questions will need to be asked about how a hastily-assembled First Nations and Pasifika Invitational side could rattle the Lions, losing a 24-19 nailbiter, when Joe Schmidt’s Test side couldn’t.

Schmidt has had over a year to prepare his squad so there are no excuses for not delivering when a team packed with players he discarded almost pulled off by showing a bit of ticker and bashing their opponents.

Kurtley Beale prepares to kick for the First Nations and Pasifika Invitational side.

The inquisitions can wait because for now, the most urgent conundrum facing the Wallabies is whether they are tough enough and brave enough to stand toe to toe with the Lions after they didn’t answer the bell in last weekend’s series opener in Brisbane.

There were some mitigating circumstances – they missing some key players and were undercooked after playing just one lead-up match – but there’s no cop outs this time.

When you take away the smoke and mirrors, rugby remains a simple game that rewards courage as much as skill and the Wallabies need to be prepared to put their bodies on the line the way the FNP did.

“You need to take it to them, like head on,” the FNP captain Kurtley Beale said.

“There were patches there where we had the momentum and the Lions were kind of taking a backward step.

“These boys, they love physicality and playing rugby, and you need that physicality to lay the platform for your backs to play off.”

The match between the First Nations & Pasifika XV and the British & Irish Lions was a physical battle.

Beale’s own frustration is different to many of the other FNP players who Schmidt shunned because he played in the Lions’ last Test series in Australia.

At 36, Beale was never in the frame to play a Test this time but a lot of his teammates were and that annoys him.

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto has more reason than most to feel duped because he’s played three warm-up games against the Lions and caused them no end of trouble each time.

Driven in part by his desire to prove the national selectors wrong, he’s done more than anyone else to expose fault lines in the Lions with his powerful ball running and wrecking-ball defence.

“We play a combative game and there’s going to be times when you dip in and out of the physical battle,” he said.

“There are times when we lost the battle. I got bashed a few times.

“But that comes natural to us, the physicality. We love those conditions. I think we put in a performance that we should be proud of.”

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto has tested the British & Irish Lions every time he’s played against them.

Flanker Charlie Gamble, who was named man of the match despite being on the losing side, said the state and invitational sides had already shown the Lions were not unbeatable so it was now up to the Wallabies to finish the job.

“The Tahs and the Brumbies really showed that if you shut time and space down with their team that they create errors,” he said.

“They’re not superhuman. They make errors and we showed that physically.

“It’s in our First Nations and Pacific culture. We showed that if you can obviously put a couple bodies in there and hurt them a little bit, it definitely rattled them.

“I think the Wallabies can take a bit of that.”

Gamble was another player unwanted by the Wallabies but ready to step up anytime, if he ever got the call from Schmidt.

“I won’t stay awake,” he said. “I’m always ready when it happens, if it happens. If it never happens, it is what it is … maybe one day, we’ll see.

“If I do get an opportunity, then I’m just going to have to take it. It might never happen, but let’s keep myself fit and see what happens.”

Originally published as British and Irish Lions tour: First Nations and Pasifika Invitational side provides blueprint for Wallabies