Wallabies planning to make Australia 'proud' in bid to end lost Lions series on a high

Joe Schmidt's wounded Wallabies are aiming to gatecrash the Lions celebrations in Sydney - and put some pride back into Aussie rugby. The hosts are still reeling from last weekend's 29-26 defeat which condemned them to another 12-year wait to win a series over the Lions.

But Aussie skipper Harry Wilson, who looked a broken man after the controversial reverse in Melbourne, has urged his side to pick their chins up off the floor. The back row said: "We really feel like we need to go out there and put a performance in for Australia to be proud of. We want them to be truly believing in us and that's for us to go back-to-back good performances and go out there and get that win.

"I do feel as like it has been a tight series. Obviously sitting here at two-nil, it's not the best situation to be in but... I feel as if a lot of Australians are believing in us and the support we've been given this week has been pretty unbelievable."

The Australians need to show something because they are off to play world champions South Africa, in their own back yard, in a fortnight as the Rugby Championship kicks off.

A mauling from the Lions would be a massive blow ahead of that challenge and the Australians have spent the week licking their wounds before this Test match.

Wilson added: "We definitely gave ourselves a few days there to get through it all because we put a lot into it, and to not get the result there, it did hurt us. The energy is back in the group."

Australia suffered another blow when hooker David Porecki, who once played for London Irish, was forced to pull out of Saturday's game with a leg injury. Billy Pollard starts with Brandon Paenga-Amosa on the bench.