British and Irish Lions

Harry Wilson vows Wallabies will bounce back in second Test against British & Irish Lions

by
The Rugby Paper Team
25 July 2025

Harry Wilson insists Australia are determined to show their true selves when they attempt to take their series against the British and Irish Lions to a decider in Sydney.

The Wallabies were overpowered 27-19 in the first Test but have been reinforced for Saturday’s rematch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by the return from injury of imposing forwards Rob Valetini and Will Skelton.

Wilson, Australia’s captain and number eight, believes his team will grow stronger having faced the Lions once already.

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Must-Win

“There’s no denying it, we’ve got to go out there and win. We’ve got to win the next two to win the series,” Wilson said.

“It feels as if we probably didn’t play the sort of footy we wanted to in the first Test and didn’t fire as many shots as we would have liked.

“We didn’t start too well, but in the second-half, once we got a bit of possession and territory and started playing our sort of footy, we took a lot of confidence from that.

“I’d say there’s pressure on both teams. They want to wrap up the series and we want to keep the series alive. There’s no doubting there’s a lot on the line for both teams.

“We want to impose ourselves physically. We want to back our skills and we want to go out there and start fast

“For a lot of us, it was our first time ever playing the British and Irish Lions and there was a lot of unknown, whereas this week we know what’s coming.”

FNP Performance

Australia have paid close attention to the First Nations and Pasifika XV’s success against the Lions on Tuesday.

While the invitational side, made up of players with First Nations or Pacific Island heritage, ultimately lost 24-19, their physicality rattled Andy Farrell‘s tourists.

“A lot of us were there watching and just seeing the way Pasifika went after them, the line speed, the big hits in defence, it was a great blueprint for how to try and physically dominate them,” Wilson said.