‘The Wallabies are a proper team – they can punish you’
Lions legend Johnson presents matchday 23 with jerseys
Maro Itoje has urged the British & Irish Lions to beware the wounded Wallabies, insisting they are “not a pub team” before calling on his side to create special memories as they seek to wrap up the series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The tourists are red-hot favourites to clinch the second Test and thereby earn the Lions’ first back-to-back series win against the same opponents, after Sam Warburton guided them to victory over the Wallabies in 2013.
The head coach, Andy Farrell, has already described the fixture, in front of an expected crowd of about 95,000, as “the biggest game of our lives”, with the Lions seeking only a second series win since 1997. On Thursday night the squad were given a call to arms by the two-times Lions captain and 2003 World Cup winner Martin Johnson, who presented the selected 23 with their jerseys.
