Sam Warburton Urges Players to Address ‘Unacceptable’ Errors Amid Growing Tour Pressure for the British and Irish Lions

British and Irish Lions players must call out “unacceptable” errors for themselves in order to improve standards before the Test series in Australia, according to former captain Sam Warburton.

Andy Farrell’s Lions toiled at times during a scrappy 21-10 win against NSW Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday.

Despite a third successive win on Australian soil, there were 14 handling errors by the tourists which overshadowed some signs of encouragement, including two tries for outside centre Huw Jones and some impressive set-pieces.

Two-time Lions captain Warburton believes the onus must be on players rather than coaches ahead of the start of the three-Test series against Australia to improve standards and hold each other to account.

“I think it’s better when it comes from players rather than coaches,” he told Sky Sports.

“You have to be able to send the rocket, you’ve got to. Players need someone to say it’s unacceptable.

“Players might take it a bit more personal now when it comes from coaches. But if that’s driven internally by players, I think it’s received a lot better.

“But, I’ve heard (former Lion and current assistant coach) Johnny Sexton has been pretty direct in some of his feedback to some of the players.”

The Lions will face ACT Brumbies in Canberra on Wednesday and then an Invitational Australian and New Zealand XV in Melbourne next Saturday before the first Test in Brisbane on Saturday, July 19, live on Sky Sports.

While some of the side who faced Waratahs may not feature in that first Test, former Lion Will Greenwood also recognised the errors will have caused concern for coaches.

“Andy Farrell will be frustrated that they (the players) didn’t fix the problems themselves,” Greenwood said.

“I just wonder when you’re learning with each other, you don’t quite know each other, some players who might be more forceful in a Wales or a Scotland jersey, aren’t necessarily going and demanding those ridiculously high standards they would normally, because they’re still settling into the shirt.

“They might be saying: ‘It’s my first go in the shirt, do I want to be the one who’s shouting at everyone?’ But actually, I’d say: ‘Be you’.”

Former Scotland captain John Barclay echoed the thoughts of Warburton and Greenwood and highlighted the Lions coaching team will hope the errors don’t become “contagious” throughout the squad.

“Some of it is forcing passes and some of it is basic errors,” Barclay told Sky Sports.

“But it seems to be slightly contagious. When you stack the handling errors on top of each other, one after another, you can’t exert pressure on the game.

“That’s what you want to be doing in any team, you want to be putting pressure on the opposition. Every time you drop the ball, the pressure valve comes off and you bring the other team back into it.

“What I would say that if it hadn’t been for the scrum, this could’ve been a very different game. The scrum was so dominant, five scrum penalties. If it was the other way round, this game has a slightly different complexion.

“That’s great on the one hand, they’ve got a strong scrum and a strong line-out, you’d expect that against a young, inexperienced Waratahs team.

“But they’ve got to get these errors out of their game.”

What’s next: British and Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports

Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.

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