Dylan Pietsch of the Wallabies celebrates after scoring a try during the third Test against the British & Irish Lions in Sydney on 2 August 2025. (Photo: Darrian Traynor / Getty Images) 
Fortunes in elite sport can change quickly – in either direction. The Wallabies gave a perfect reminder of that with a stunning third-Test mugging of a seemingly complacent British & Irish Lions team in Sydney.
Before the Test, a video played featuring Wallaby captain Harry Wilson extolling that a new dawn for the team would start in Sydney, with the goal of lifting the World Cup at the same venue in 2027.
Wilson’s delivery was sincere and steely but given the Wallabies’ recent woes, it also felt hollow for non-Australians.
Yet, several hours later, on the back of a deeply passionate and hugely physical performance, Wilson’s statement carried more weight. The Wallabies had backed it up with something tangible on the field, beating the Lions 22-12.
Yes, the Lions had clinched the three-match series a week earlier, going 2-0 up. Yet, the hyperbole, admittedly not from their own camp but from fans and media about how “great” they were, curdled quickly in torrential Sydney rain.
Great teams don’t get taken apart like the Lions were at the Olympic Stadium in Homebush. Australia dominated almost every aspect of the game, from the scrums and lineout to the breakdown and everything in between.
This was not a great Lions team. They had some great players, but they never reached any significant heights.
The Lions had a chance to win the series 3-0 and blew it through their own sloppiness and fierce Wallaby resistance in Sydney.
It felt like a seismic moment for the Wallabies, especially in the context of a series in which they lost the second Test 29-26 on the back of a marginal late refereeing call in that match.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2228207924.jpg "Nic White of Australia kicks the ball during the third Test against the British & Irish Lions. (Photo: Izhar Khan / MB Media / Getty Images)")
There will be a bigger sense of regret in the Australian camp over what might have been because of it. If the giant lock Will Skelton, No 8 Rob Valetini and flyhalf Noah Lolesio had been fit for the first Test, might the outcome have been different?
Skelton’s contributions in the second and third Tests were immense, as were those of tighthead prop Taniela Tupou and scrumhalf Nic White in the third Test. Both were immense in the match.
Wing Dylan Pietsch was electric for the Western Force against the Lions earlier in the tour, but was only given a Test chance in Sydney, where he delivered powerfully.
The blame for earlier non-selections falls on outgoing coach Joe Schmidt though. If he could have it over, would he have brought in those third-Test stars sooner as they were fit and available?
Optimism
Despite the inevitable regrets for the Wallabies, there will also be a sense of optimism about what is to come. One game and one performance of this magnitude might give them the momentum to build towards fulfilling the promise of Wilson’s pre-match words – winning the World Cup on home soil in 2027.
A good comparison is where the Boks were in 2017. In 2019 they won the World Cup with largely the same group of players who were being hammered only two years previously.
The turning point for the Boks came in their 2018 away clash against the All Blacks in Wellington. They plotted and planned to win that game and did it. From that moment on belief in the squad and from the public grew.
Could the third Lions Test be the same catalyst for the Wallabies?
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2228173702.jpg "The Wallabies’ Nic White in action against the British & Irish Lions In Sydney on 2 August 2025. (Photo: Izhar Khan / MB Media / Getty Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2228172705.jpg "Wallaby lock Will Skelton produced an immense performance during the third Test against the British & Irish Lions. (Photo: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images)")
We will only have a clearer picture of what the mix was between Wallaby excellence and Lions complacency in the coming weeks.
Australia seemingly turned a corner in the third Test against the Lions, but was it a road to success or a blind alley where a Bok thrashing looms?
They face the Boks at Ellis Park on 16 August and again at Cape Town Stadium on 23 August. You must go back to 1963 for the last time the Wallabies won in Johannesburg.
In fact, in the post-isolation era the Wallabies have lost all six games at Ellis Park by an average losing score of 35-18. They are generally entertaining, high-scoring matches in Johannesburg.
By the time they meet on 16 August, the Boks will have had almost three weeks of training and preparation after four matches in June and July.
Tough questions
The Wallabies will certainly be better for the Lions series, both physically and now mentally, following the third-Test triumph.
Despite the rarity of a Lions series and the unique pressures it brings, the Boks in South Africa will pose much more difficult questions of the Wallabies.
If they are serious about their third-Test performance being the start of something special, they must back it up immediately at Ellis Park. That’s no mean feat.
Lions coach Andy Farrell, having observed the Wallabies up close for the past three weeks, is in no doubt that they are on the up.
“I said to (Australia coach) Joe (Schmidt) before the game there on the pitch, that I think special things are going to happen for this team over the next 18 months,” Farrell said after the 22-12 defeat.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2228165716.jpg "Will Skelton took the fight to Lions to the British and Irish Lions during the third Test. (Photo: Darrian Traynor / Getty Images)")
“By the time the World Cup comes around they’ll be a force to be reckoned with. Everyone’s seen in the past, they’ve got some special athletes and some special players, and that’s no surprise to us after how they performed over the last couple of weeks.
“We all know how hard it is to be successful on the Lions tour against a good side like Australia, and they are a good side, and they proved that over the series.
“I mean, everyone has their ups and downs. I’ve looked at the progress over the last 18 months. It’s been through the roof, and you look at that side that’s been out there over the last… three weeks, they’re a hell of a team.”
Farrell’s assessment, while complimentary, is stretching the truth slightly. Australia’s performances over the past 18 months have hardly “been through the roof”. Heck, they just lost a Lions series.
They also finished bottom of the 2023 and 2024 Rugby Championships, lost by a record 67-27 to Argentina last year, haven’t beaten the Boks anywhere since 2022 and last won a Bledisloe Cup Test against the All Blacks in 2020.
They were also dumped out of Rugby World Cup 2023 at the pool stage for the first time, which included a 40-6 defeat to Wales and a loss to Fiji.
Their 2025 form is showing shoots of promise, but whether those shoots blossom, or whether they wither, will be revealed under the African sun. DM