Australian captain Harry Wilson has declared the Wallabies have “flipped the switch” and are primed to overcome the disappointment of last week’s loss in Melbourne to prevent a British & Irish Lions series sweep in front of a sell-out 83,000 crowd in Sydney on Saturday.
But the hosts’ camp has been rocked by late injuries to hooker David Porecki and backup Matt Faessler during training after the team for the third Test was announced on Thursday, and an 11th-hour SOS has been sent for Brandon Paenga-Amosa.
Billy Pollard moves from the bench into the starting XV, while the man teammates call “BPA” is set for another chance at the Lions having played them three times already, including for both the AUNZ Invitational XV and the First Nations & Pasifika side.
Wilson said he was “gutted” to lose Porecki and Faessler but Paenga-Amosa – having represented the Wallabies as recently as last year – has fitted in quickly.
“He’s been around this group for quite a long time over the last year, year and a half, and he’s obviously versed [played against] the Lions already three times, so he’s got a lot of confidence,” he said.
The Wallabies captain admitted the week has been difficult after the disappointment of Saturday, but the players turned the corner on Tuesday.
“On Tuesday, I was really proud of the group about what sort of session we had. We went out there, everyone was a bit quiet [but] once we went across that white line, the energy was back,” he said.
“Everyone really flipped that switch and we’ve had a really good week and we can’t get out there.”
Flanker Carlo Tizzano has been left out of the squad after coming up sore from last week’s match. He has faced an avalanche of abuse on social media after what some fans perceived as acting in an attempt to win a penalty in the second Test and prevent the last-minute try.
Wilson said it hasn’t been an easy week for Tizzano and the treatment he has received isn’t “right”.
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“It’s probably a good thing for him to get out of the limelight here and just get his body right and just get back to enjoying his footy,” Wilson said. “Obviously with these series comes a lot of media, a lot of pressure and it seems like a lot of people want to take it out on him this week.”
As the Wallabies face the possibility of a first Lions sweep in 121 years, Wilson said the side has been “fired up” all series, but they know their opponents will have their eyes on a clean sweep on Saturday.
“We want to go out there and get a result for our country,” he said.
