Australia head coach Joe Schmidt has taken a swipe at the British and Irish Lions by describing Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu as a “southern-hemisphere centre partnership”.
Aki and Tuipulotu, who were born in New Zealand and Australia respectively, form a midfield partnership for Friday’s tour opener against Argentina in Dublin and Schmidt has seized the opportunity to highlight their switch of national allegiance.
Aki qualified for Ireland through residency while Tuipulotu is able to represent Scotland because of his Greenock-born grandmother.
“A southern-hemisphere centre partnership that will be pretty formidable,” said Schmidt at the Wallabies squad announcement for their forthcoming match against Fiji.
“I coached Bundee for several years and know him really well and respect him massively as a player. He’s a great contributor to the team environment.
“I’ve only had glancing conversations with Sione but again, by all accounts a champion bloke.
“You don’t get to be captain of a national team without being a great bloke and really professional in those high-performance environments. They are real athletes, those two together, so that’ll be really interesting.”
The number of overseas-born players in Andy Farrell’s 38-man squad has been a talking point ahead of the tour Down Under.
Ireland’s James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park and Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman qualified for their nations through residency, while Finlay Bealham and Mack Hansen can represent Ireland through family.
Lions attack coach Richard Wigglesworth responded to Schmidt’s barb by declaring everyone in the squad has earned the right to be there.
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“I don’t know if they are questioning their commitment. Everyone has earned the right to pull on the Lions jersey,” Wigglesworth said.
“They are, to a man, incredibly proud to be here. It is not your background or how you have got here, it’s what sort of player you are and what sort of man you are. We have got great men and great players.”
PA
