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The monster Australian rugby helped build: Leinster Lions return to haunt the Wallabies
@Source: smh.com.au
The British and Irish Lions’ plans to defeat the Wallabies will rely on a system built in Dublin and shaped by a series of coaches steeped in Australian rugby.
Fourteen Lions have now been called up from Leinster, Ireland’s dominant province. Coach Andy Farrell has long leaned on the team while coaching Ireland, and is now doing the same with the Lions. The Leinster machine, which surged under Michael Cheika and was then refined by now Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, will be decisive in this series.
Five of the seven head coaches over the past 25 years at Leinster have had an Australian rugby background: Matt Williams, Gary Ella, Cheika, Schmidt and Matt O’Connor.
Former Waratahs coach Williams points out that he cannot take any of the credit for the later success at Leinster. That goes largely to Cheika, who won the club’s first European title in 2009, and was followed by Schmidt in 2010 and 2012, before later success under former Ireland international Leo Cullen.
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