English-born Wallaby Harry Potter has fired back at snipers who claim the Australians have a loser’s mentality. Sir Clive Woodward made the claim after their first Test 27-19 defeat in Brisbane when they kicked the ball off rather than chase a try at the death.
Another score would not have won the game but World Cup-winning coach Woodward – and Aussie legend David Campese – reckoned it gave an insight the Wallabies’ mindset. But Potter, who played for Leicester from 2020 to 2023, hit back saying: “It’s pretty ridiculous to suggest that the 23 people who played on the weekend have a mentality of losing.
“We went out there to win the game, and we didn’t win the game. But it was our intention very much to and you could tell from every player in the team we wanted to win that game.”
Potter was born in Wimbledon but moved to Melbourne as a youth when he was a regular at the Boxing Day Test and AFL games at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, venue for Saturday’s second Test.
The Australians are hoping to have the biggest Lions attendance down under by packing in more than the 84,188 who watched the 2001 tourists lose the decider in Sydney.
Last week in Brisbane the game was done after 42 minutes with the Lions 24-5 up before the Australians grabbed a couple of consolation scores.
And Potter reckons playing at ‘The G’ will inspire the Wallabies, even if at least half the ground will be wearing red shirts.
The 27-year-old said: “It’s an absolute mecca of sport, it’s a pretty special place to play any game. They’re an incredibly strong team and we know that we’ve got to come out better and start the game stronger.
“But I suppose there were some positive signs towards the end of the game. If we can string enough things together then we’ll go a lot better than we did.”