David Campese unloads on British and Irish Lions: Captain, coach, tactics torched

The war of words between the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions has exploded with Australian Test legend David Campese ripping into the tourists.

The war of words between the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions has exploded with Australian Test legend David Campese ripping into the tourists after they started whingeing the moment they touched down in Australia.

In an unrestrained interview with UK radio station TalkSport, Campese has laid into the Lions, bagging their captain, their coach and their reliance on southern hemisphere players.

Rugby’s greatest showman when he was playing, ‘Campo’ is just as entertaining behind the microphone because he fearlessly calls things as he sees things and didn’t hesitate to fire back after the Lions criticised the Wallabies for not release all of their best players for the warm up games against the Australian state teams.

By his own admission, Campese loves to torment his opposition by winding them up and while a lot of what he says is tongue in cheek, he didn’t miss anyone on the airwaves with TalkSport.

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Nick Farr-Jones and David Campese holding the Webb Ellis trophy after Australia won the 1991 Rugby World Cup

Here’s some of what Campese had to say on the biggest topics ahead of the tour.

WHY LIONS COACH ANDY FARRELL’S RUGBY LEAGUE TACTICS BACKFIRED IN HIS TEAM’S WARM UP LOSS TO ARGENTINA

“They didn’t commit anyone to a ruck, which is really good, but the teams are going to work you out pretty quickly.

“The game is still rugby, but we’ve gone a long way away from where we were. And if Andy Farrell is going to play his rugby league (tactics) don’t attack at the rucks, you guys are going to be in a bit of trouble.

Andy Farrell, Head Coach of the British & Irish Lions

THE LIONS’ RELIANCE ON PLAYERS FROM THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

“It is hard when you’ve got four nations in one team.

“The Irish Lions, sorry, the British and Irish and Pacific Island Lions, I’m going to call them, because you’ve got so many Australian islanders in there. It is going to be a very interesting game.”

IS MARO ITOJE THE RIGHT MAN TO LEAD THE LIONS?

“He’s not a captain. I’m sorry, you need a captain who’s going to lead by example. There were a couple of times there he didn’t really, he should have stood up a lot more.”

Maro Itoje is the captain of the British & Irish Lions.

THE LIONS HAVE SELECTED THE WRONG BACKS TO COPE WITH JOSEPH-AUKUSO SUAALII

“I just hope out here that the Lions actually realise you can’t play what you do week in week out, you’ve got to actually do something different out here because you know we’ve got Suaalii who’s very good in the air, he wins most of the kick offs when he’s playing. He’s good, but he’s just one player.

“I don’t know why you play (Marcus) Smith at fullback, (Blair) Kinghorn is a far better player. You’ve got Finn Russell is a far better player, but the problem is you’ve got 12 (Bundee Aki) and 13 (Sione Tuipulotu) exactly the same.

“There’s no (Brian) O’Driscoll. If you throw an O’Driscoll at 13, it’ll be a totally different backline. You’ve got some really good finishers, but are they getting enough of the ball?”

New Zealand born Bundee Aki is now a key player for the Lions

But in classic Campese style, Australia’s greatest tryscorer didn’t hold back in also taking a swipe at the Wallabies’ New Zealand coach Joe Schmidt over his selections and approach to the game.

WHY JAMES O’CONNOR SHOULD HAVE BEEN SELECTED

“We’ve got our own problems out here as well. We’ve got a Kiwi coach, Joe Schmidt and we haven’t picked our best number 10 really. Two number 10s for me are the best in Australia. Ben Donaldson is a really good player. And you’ve got James O’Connor, who’s been playing for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. And he’s been coming on for the Crusaders with 20, 30 to go and has actually been a match winner. But they don’t even mention him.”

Current Wallabies Head Coach Joe Schmidt and his successor Les Kiss

CULTURE CLASH

“In Australian rugby we haven’t got any culture, no one cares, no-one knows who we are.

“If you haven’t got culture and history, you haven’t got anything. Unfortunately, that’s where we are in Australia. We’ve got Joe Schmidt, who still doesn’t know about our culture and history.

“He wants to play Joe Schmidt rugby. Now he’s Got Les Kiss involved, who’s a rugby league guy who went out and played and coached in Ireland.

“We’ve got to try and play a style of rugby that people want to watch, you know, at the moment it’s a very, very up and down defensive game.”

Originally published as David Campese unloads on British and Irish Lions: Captain, coach, tactics torched