'Anxious' Joe Schmidt's verdict on 'predictable, powerful' British and Irish Lions squad
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has described the British and Irish Lions squad as "predictable and powerful" while admitting to anxiety about the magnitude of the challenge ahead.
Lions coach Andy Farrell - Schmidt's former Ireland assistant - on Thursday unveiled a 38-man squad captained by Maro Itoje to tour Australia in June-August.
As expected, Farrell leant heavily on his Ireland stars, with 15 picked to go with 13 from England, eight from Scotland and two from Wales.
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Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell, Henry Pollock and Tommy Freeman in their British and Irish Lions shirts. Getty
"I'd probably say predictable and powerful, good strength and depth," Schmidt told Stan Sport.
"They've named an extra 10 players (as training cover). They may name two or three more in the actual, official squad. Maybe a couple of surprises, but really strong squad."
The Lions won the last series in Australia in 2013 and are favourites to again prevail against a Wallabies side ranked eighth in the world.
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Joe Schmidt (right) with defence coach Andy Farrell during Ireland training. Getty
Ireland are ranked third, England sixth, Scotland seventh and Wales 12th.
"Anxious, excited and I can't wait for it to arrive," Schmidt said.
"June 28 they arrive to play the Force and we'll get a first look at them."
Maro Itoje poses for a photo after being announced as captain by Andy Farrell. Getty
The Lions first take on Argentina in Dublin on June 21 (AEST) before flying Down Under.
"So we're looking forward to getting those two looks rather than names on paper," Schmidt said.
"Players on the field is what we want to see first up."
Previous Lions teams have looked to batter the Wallabies into submission but Schmidt thought they would back their skill in Australia.
"I think they're going to try to play with plenty of pace, plenty of phases and plenty of options," he predicted.
"They love having options across the field ... They're just as good off their foot as their hand, so they're going to pass either through the hands or off the foot to try to find space, and they're going to play through that space very quickly.
"That has been the Irish formula and I can imagine that's going to be the Lions formula."
Schmidt has insight into how much the Lions jersey means to players from his time with Ireland and Leinster.
"And one of the things that always impressed me is how excited they were for each other," he said.
"There'd be phone calls, there'd be little clips going up online and WhatsApp chats and things, and it was just exciting to see them excited.
"You only have to talk to guys like Johnny Sexton and Ronan O'Gara, those iconic Irish players. Being a Lion is just that one further step."
Only 12 of Farrell's squad have played for the Lions before.
"But there's a lot of familiarity in that team and how they're going to play - and also in the combinations," Schmidt noted.
"They have 15 Irishmen, 12 Leinstermen. I think there's a backbone there."
The Lions will have six games together before the first Test in Brisbane on July 19.
Australia will have just one - against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6.
Schmidt said he hadn't started mapping out individual head-to-head battles.
"I want to get some sleep before the series, so I'm not going to get too caught up in the weeds of one vs ones," he said.
Joe Schmidt (left) and Les Kiss pose during a media opportunity at Allianz Stadium. Getty
"One of the things that we tried to build through last year - with the number of debutants and the breadth of the squad we tried to build -was trying to work out who we were and how we played.
"And I don't think we'll try to get too distracted on what we think is coming. We'll certainly watch and look to combat whatever we think is coming and look to exploit what we think is there.
"But we want to make sure that we don't get too far away from who we are and how we play because I think you can start to stretch yourself and lose your own sense of direction."
British and Irish Lions squad
Forwards: Maro Itoje (England, captain), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), Ollie Chessum (England), Jack Conan (Ireland), Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), Scott Cummings (Scotland), Tom Curry (England), Ben Earl (England), Zander Fagerson (Scotland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Ellis Genge (England), Ronan Kelleher (Ireland), Joe McCarthy (Ireland), Jac Morgan (Wales), Henry Pollock (England), Andrew Porter (Ireland), James Ryan (Ireland), Pierre Schoeman (Scotland), Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Will Stuart (England), Josh van der Flier (Ireland)
Backs: Bundee Aki (Ireland), Elliot Daly (England), Tommy Freeman (England), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland), Mack Hansen (Ireland), Huw Jones (Scotland), Hugo Keenan (Ireland), Blair Kinghorn (Scotland), James Lowe (Ireland), Alex Mitchell (England), Gary Ringrose (Ireland), Finn Russell (Scotland), Fin Smith (England), Marcus Smith (England), Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland), Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland), Tomos Williams (Wales)
