Australia rock up 25 minutes late for Lions clash as preparations disrupted

Australian players were late arriving at the MCG.

Australia have arrived nearly 30 minutes late for their must-win second test with the British and Irish Lions at the MCG. Stadium officials were briefed to prepare for both team buses to arrive around 90 minutes before kick-off, but only the tourists turned up on time. Instead, the Wallabies rocked up shortly before 7pm local time. That left Joe Schmidt and his squad them little over an hour to prepare for a clash they have to win to keep their hopes of a first series win over the Lions since 2001 alive. Moments later, Schmidt explained that the huge crowds gathering in Melbourne had caused the delay. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

"We were late to the ground, unfortunately, because you couldn't drive through the traffic that's out there which is an indictive of the crowd that's gathering," he told Sky Sports. "It's a massive crowd, huge venue, and it's a massive night." However, he denied the disruption would affect his team, adding: "The players are going to be very conscious of that (the occasion). All they can do is put their best foot forward, they've trained well during the week and on the back of that, we'll hopefully be alright in the contest."

A record crowd will watch the Lions in Melbourne.

Prior to the explanation, former Lions coach Warren Gatland weighed in on the development. The Sky pundit said: "Interesting to see what's happened with the Wallabies tonight. Maybe traffic. They'll just carry on as normal and hope to get into their stride so that it wont affect them." Fellow analyst John Barclay also argued the late arrival wouldn't have a bearing on the outcome. He said it was common in international rugby, and speculated that the players would have received team strapping on the bus to save time.

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"Everyone has had an example of that," said the ex-Scottish international. "England in 2019 were late for the Rugby World Cup final. If you win, you forget about it; if you lose, you can say the preparation wasn't quite right." More than 95,000 fans are expected to fill the iconic cricket ground. That will set a new record for a Lions test, and also be the biggest rugby crowd at the MCG, with the current best being the 90,119 from the 1997 Bledisloe Cup.

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