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Rugby legend David Campese has slammed the British and Irish Lions squad over the number of 'Australian Islanders' on their books - and then dubbed Andy Farrell's team 'the British and Irish and Pacific Island Lions'.
Never afraid to voice his opinion, Wallabies great Campese unloaded ahead of the Lions' clash against the Western Force in Perth on Saturday night.
Captain Maro Itoje was also on Campese's hit-list, alongside Farrell, the dire state of rugby in Australia and Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt.
Speaking with UK radio station TalkSport, Campese didn't mince his words.
'It is hard when you've got four nations in one team,' he quipped when pointing to the amount of players with Southern Hemisphere ties.
'The Irish Lions, sorry, the British and Irish and Pacific Island Lions, I'm going to call them, because you've got so many Australian Islanders in there. It is going to be a very interesting game.'
Never afraid to speak his mind, rugby legend David Campese has slammed the British and Irish Lions squad over the number of 'Australian Islanders' on their books
Lions captain Maro Itoje was also on Campese's hit-list, alongside coach Andy Farrell (pictured), the dire state of rugby in Australia and Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt
Campese feels Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt (pictured, left) 'doesn't know' about Australia's rugby culture and history
Campese then declared star lock Itoje fails to 'lead by example' and could prove to be a liability on Australian shores.
The man affectionately known as 'Campo' next questioned a number of Farrell's selections following the recent defeat against Argentina before turning his attention to what the code must do in his eyes to stay relevant in Australia.
He finished by outlining why he doesn't rate Schmidt.
'In Australian rugby we haven't got any culture, no one cares, no-one knows who we are,' he said.
'If you haven't got culture and history, you haven't got anything. Unfortunately, that's where we are in Australia.
'We've got Joe Schmidt as our (Wallabies ) coach, who still doesn't know about our culture and history.
'Now he's got Les Kiss involved, who's a rugby league guy who went out and played and coached in Ireland.
'We've got to try and play a style of rugby that people want to watch. 'At the moment it's a very, very up and down defensive game.'
The first Test featuring the British and Irish Lions against the Wallabies is on July 19 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
Campese chalked up 101 appearances for the Wallabies, with his career highlight winning the 1991 World Cup.
