Legendary coach Rod Macqueen suggests Joe Schmidt’s knowledge will help Wallabies defeat British and Irish Lions

Legendary Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen knows what it takes to beat the British and Irish Lions under adversity — and he is confident Joe Schmidt is the secret weapon Australia needs to do it again.

Rod Macqueen rarely talks publicly about the Wallabies these days, so when he does, it pays to listen.

A stoic thinker who succeeded where others failed because he wasn’t afraid of swimming against the tide, Macqueen has a message of hope for the Australian rugby faithful ahead of the British & Irish Lions series.

While many of the Wallabies’ most loyal supporters are unconvinced Joe Schmidt’s inconsistent team has what it takes to topple the combined might of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, Macqueen is a believer.

From arm’s length, he’s been paying close attention to the team’s progress since Joe Schmidt took over the reins and while the results haven’t materialised yet, Macqueen likes what he’s seen from the quietly-spoken New Zealander.

“I think we’ve got a coach that knows what he’s got to do to beat the Lions,” Macqueen said.

“I see real potential in some of these players, and if they can get it together, there’s no reason why they can’t end up winning the series. I’m confident that they can equip themselves well.”

Rod Macqueen with George Gregan and John Eales after the Wallabies 2001 series win against the British and Irish Lions. Picture: Nick Wilson /Allsport

Coming from Macqueen, that’s high-praise, because he’s never been one to rave about how things were better in his day or tell his successors how to do their job.

Nor is he doing that now but he sees a kindred spirit in Schmidt so is speaking up in the hope he can implore other Australians to keep faith with the Wallabies when all the naysayers are writing them off.

“I like what the coach is doing,” Macqueen said. “He obviously understands the style that he wants to play and I’m seeing that develop.

“The normality in the selections he’s doing is good. They’ve got some good players there and we’re seeing some of the parts of their game coming together.”

When it comes to beating the Lions, Macqueen does know what he’s talking about because he’s the only Wallabies coach to have pulled it off, in 2001, which ranks as one of the greatest series ever played.

Joe Schmidt has the backing of former Wallabies Rod Macqueen. Picture: Getty Images

It turned out to be the final act of his stellar career, in which he transformed the Wallabies into one of Australia’s most admired and successful teams.

During his tenure as Wallabies’ head coach, from 1997-2001, Macqueen won every trophy and series on offer, including the World Cup, the Bledisloe Cup, the Tri-Nations and finally, a first-ever series victory over the Lions.

In hindsight, Macqueen made it look easy, but it was anything but because the 2001 Lions were an awesome opponent packed with hall of fame stars like Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson.

Not only that but Macqueen’s champion side and players were confronted by a series of obstacles, from a mass exodus of key players, injuries and an inadequate preparation that Macqueen himself intervened to fix.

“It really started in 2000, because when we sat down and talked about what the goals were of Australian rugby, the goal obviously was to beat the British & Irish Lions,” he said.

“It had already been organised that they were going to play six games while we had had no games scheduled.

“So that was one of the first things we had to do in 2000, was organise a game in 2001, in which we were able to get a pick-up side against the New Zealand Maori. That was a bit of a blessing for us to have at least one game.”

Like Schmidt, Macqueen set about rebuilding a team to tackle the Lions a year in advance after losing a number of senior players to retirement and overseas clubs.

He didn’t just lose any players. He lost eight members of the squad that won the 1999 World Cup: Tim Horan, Phil Kearns, Jason Little, David Wilson, Richard Harry, Andrew Blades, Dan Crowley and Mark Connors.

“Some were retiring and some were getting big offers from overseas so we let a lot of them go, knowing that we needed to blood some players for the British & Irish Lions,” Macqueen said.

“The same thing happened over that period of time with the coaching staff, so it was a time for us to look at rebuilding, not just for the Lions but also the next World Cup.”

Raised on Sydney’s northern beaches, one of Macqueen’s first loves was surfboat rowing, a sport that requires great physical and mental strength and espouses the virtues of hard work and patience.

He applied the same principles from the ocean to his successful business career, and also to coaching. Ahead of his time, Macqueen’s overriding philosophy was to keep searching for solutions when others gave up.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because Schmidt thinks and behaves the same way.

Sticklers for detail and getting things right, both men also know the importance of empowering others.

While winning the World Cup is the ultimate for a rugby player or coach, beating the Lions rates as great a challenge because of the unfair playing field.

“Coming up against the British & Irish Lions is quite a different thing because you have limited time to do your homework,” Macqueen said.

“It’s always going to be difficult to prepare for and that’s why we were certainly caught out in the first Test. It was certainly a good ambush.”

The Wallabies were thrashed 29-13 in the series opener in Brisbane but didn’t overreact.

For the second Test in Melbourne, following discussions with John Eales, players and coaching staff, Macqueen made some changes, promoting fullback Matt Burke, prop Rod Moore and hooker Michael Foley to the starting lineup.

Team training that week was focused on retaining possession and having faith in their systems regardless of how good the Lion’s defence was.

It worked and the Wallabies won 35-14 to send the series into a decider.

“We were definitely caught out in that first Test. As much as we thought we’d done the homework, we obviously hadn’t,” Macqueen said.

“We had a lot of new players in there, but there was generally a belief that if we played the way that we know we can, we were confident that we would be successful.

“The important thing was not to panic and not to try and change everything, but to be aware that we had to do things a bit differently.

“The main thrust from my point of view was to have faith in the team.”

The Lions led 11-6 at halftime but the turning point came shortly after the restart when Joe Roff scored against the run of play when he intercepted a long pass from Wilkinson.

“I was very happy with that one,” Macqueen said.

“From that point on the team really clicked, they didn’t make any mistakes and went on with it and that continued all the way through to the next game.

“That was a bit of a mark of the team, not to panic.”

Shortly after the second Test finished, Macqueen announced he was retiring as coach after the decider in Sydney. He had originally planned to quit after the Tri-Nations but felt the time was right to stand down.

If he’d hoped for a relaxed final week in the job he didn’t get his wish when two of his key players - five-eighth Stephen Larkham and lock David Giffin - were ruled out with injuries.

Elton Flatley came in for Larkham and Justin Harrison replaced Giffin, and both reserves had great games after seamlessly stepping in.

“To me, nothing was different, knowing what we have to do was all that mattered and it was business as usual,” Macqueen said.

“My role has always been to have everyone focused, everyone to know what their roles are. I was very impressed with a lot of the players that had only been there for one year, how they handled all that.”

Almost a quarter of a century later, Macqueen, now 75, but as sharp and sprightly as ever, has an even greater appreciation for what his team achieved in beating the Lions and he believes the 2025 squad can do the same.

“It’s so much the unknown. We always liked to know what we were going in against,” he said.

“That’s always been number one in my thinking. You have to respect the opposition and therefore know what you’ve got to do to beat them?

“Not knowing enough about them was always a hard thing. By the third Test, we knew a lot more, and we knew what to expect. We knew they were a very good team, and we know what we had to do to overcome that.

“It’s totally different to the World Cup, where the planning takes place over a three-year period and involves lots of reconnaissance on the opposition we play.”

That right there is why Macqueen believes so strongly in Schmidt, who has spent a large part of his professional life in Ireland, coaching the same players and coaches that are now running the Lions.

It’s a significant but often overlooked advantage that Schmidt possesses but one that Macqueen sees as the potential gamechanger

“He’s been around,” Macqueen said. “And he also knows a lot about the opposition players, which has got to be a plus from the Wallabies’ point of view.”

Originally published as Legendary coach Rod Macqueen suggests Joe Schmidt’s knowledge will help Wallabies defeat British and Irish Lions