AUSTRALIA boss Joe Schmidt has delivered a blunt reality check for his side ahead of the test series against the British and Irish Lions.
The Wallabies needed a late try from captain Harry Wilson to edge past Fiji 21-18 in their opening fixture of the year, their only outing before the clashes against Andy Farrell’s side.
And the former Ireland and Leinster boss was left in a sombre mood after a lucky escape against the Pacific Islanders.
Despite the game being their first outing since the turn of the year, the New Zealander admitted he expected more from his side.
He said: “We haven’t been together for six months, and to have five trainings and to be seamless would be an expectation I’d hope for rather than believe would immediately happen.
“Now we have another short run to improve on what we saw today.”
Schmidt highlighted several key areas that require urgent attention if they are to pose a serious challenge to the Lions before
He added: “There are probably a myriad of things.
“I don’t think we quite got rewarded for our scrum – I thought it was really good.
“We didn’t get reward for our lineout, but they are things that we are working hard on.
“We got pulled back for two forward passes, that’s a skill execution thing that I think we need to take responsibility for and be more accurate with.
“If you put those four things together, you are already in a much stronger position to at least control the result.”
When the Wallaby boss was further pushed on his confidence ahead of the Lions series, he wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence.
Joe stated: “I’m not really a confidence sort of person, there’s no real confidence, but there is a quiet resolve.”
Meanwhile, the Lions also underwhelmed in a tight clash against the NSW Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday morning.
Scotland centre Huw Jones crossed twice as the tourists were forced to battle hard in grinding past a second-string Tahs side in Sydney.
But it was less than convincing against a side – missing a slew of Australia players – that had lost five of their last six Super Rugby games.
