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Australian rugby chief Phil Waugh has dismissed fears that next summer’s British and Irish Lions series could be uncompetitive, insisting that the Wallabies are making “progress” despite a record defeat to Argentina.
Joe Schmidt’s Australia were thrashed 67-27 by the Pumas to continue a difficult Rugby Championship campaign and now face back-to-back Bledisloe Cup encounters with New Zealand.
It follows a pool stage exit from last year’s World Cup under Eddie Jones, who subsequently departed for Japan, while this year has also seen the Melbourne Rebels fold amid financial issues.
Worries have therefore grown that next summer’s tour could lose lustre with Andy Farrell’s Lions strong favourites to sweep their hosts.
But Waugh, capped 79 times by the Wallabies during his playing career believes there is “plenty of time” for Schmidt to arrest the slide and turn Australia around.
“You can see the progress is there,” Rugby Australia chief executive Waugh told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It is not nearly where we need it to be, but if we keep progressing at the speed with which we have moved things in the last six months, then there is plenty of time.
“It is a team that is, and I hate using the word ‘re-building’, but it is a team that is re-setting, and it takes experiences in big moments to get better.
“Obviously the enormity of the scoreline in that second half [against Argentina] was disappointing. But there is context that is important... we are not the most experienced team in world rugby, and we are building that experience.”
Having snatched victory a week prior with the final kick, Australia led 20-3 in Santa Fe before Argentina surged away impressively.
They now host New Zealand in Sydney before heading to Wellington for a second meeting with their trans-Tasman rivals on the final weekend of the Rugby Championship.
Australia’s autumn itinerary consists of Tests against all four of the constitutent Lions unions, beginning with an encounter with England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on 9 November.
Schmidt is set to be boosted by the availability of code-hopper Joseph Sua’ali’i, who has been lured across from the NRL in a big-money move.
“I’m going on that [Wallabies] spring tour at end of the year, I know that, but I’m not sure when my first game will be,” the 21-year-old confirmed.
