"Earned the right" - Lions attack coach Richard Wigglesworth responds to 'Southern Hemisphere centres' comment from Wallabies

Richard Wigglesworth, the attack coach of the British & Irish Lions, has responded to a comment made by Australia head coach Joe Schmidt, ahead of the upcoming Summer tour. The comment in question was when Schmidt call the Lions midfield pairing of Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu a 'Southern Hemisphere centre partnership', ahead of the upcoming Test between the Lions and Argentina.

An imposing duo that would start in any Test match squad, Schmidt was impressed by the selection made by Andy Farrell and the Lions coaching staff. However, the Wallabies head coach would make reference to the New Zealand and Australian backgrounds held by the centres, as Aki was born in Auckland, and Tuipulotu grew up and spent his early playing days in Melbourne.

Schmidt called the centre pairing "A Southern Hemisphere centre partnership that will be pretty formidable" in a recent press conference, as an Australian training squad was named to prepare for their upcoming warm-up Test against Fiji on July 6th.

Schmidt followed this up with a rather endearing recount, of previous interactions with the two Lions centres; “Obviously, I coached Bundee for several years and know him really well, respect him massively as a player and a great contributor to the team environment.

“I’ve only had glancing conversations with Sione but again, by all accounts a champion bloke. You don’t get to be captain of a national team without being a great bloke and a really professional in those high-performance environments. They are real athletes, those two together, so that’ll be really interesting.”

Whilst the quote in full does praise the on-field abilities and the personalities of the two starting Lions centres, the inclusion of the 'Southern Hemisphere' tag is open to interpretation, as international eligibility has once again been a contentious topic in the build-up to the tour. Wigglesworth did not make much of Schmidt's comment, and insisted that the Ireland and Scotland midfielders have earned the right to wear the famous red of the Lions this Summer.

"I don’t know if they [the Wallabies] are questioning their commitment, because you would argue their [Aki and Tuipulotu's] journey and how committed they have been to their country." Wigglesworth said, in today's Lions press conference.

"Whether that be Scotland or Ireland, England or Wales, and how they have got here, is everyone has earned the right to pull on the Lions jersey.

"They are, to a man, incredibly proud to be here, it is not [about] your background or how you have got here, it is what sort of player are you, and what sort of man you are, and we have got great men and great players."

Wigglesworth then went on to express his excitement about unleashing the two powerhouse midfielders, as Argentina prepare to batten down the defensive hatches for the upcoming clash at the Aviva Stadium.

"They [Aki and Tuipulotu] can definitely test the gain line, but they've also got really high-level skill with a short passing game, balls out the back. So I think will hold the defence, and then we can create some opportunities off the back of it."

"The backline and players we have got can do everything. We want them to be an all court backline who can go through or around you. We are going to have to create space. We don’t want to put too many limits on the group on what we will see or might see because it is pretty exciting with who we have got in the room, how far it can go and how exciting this backline and attack can be.

"We want to see the absolute best of them. You have earned this shot to put this red shirt on and you feel like we have put something together where you can go and show your talents with your mates in a Lions shirt and show the best of yourself."