And the veteran is adamant the Aussies will fire back any vocal barbs shot at them twice as hard.

“We’re going to play the Australian way. We’re going to compete hard. We’re not going to roll over,” Lyon said.

“If one of our players is getting a hard time, we’re going to stick up for him.

“We know where the line is. We headbutt it, but we don’t go over it.

“If one of our players is down and we need to look after him, we’ll do that. It’s just the Australian way.”

South African quick Dale Steyn told media his side would target captain Steve Smith and “cut the head off the snake” to incite an Australian collapse.  

Lyon was having none of it. 

“They can talk about whatever they want. We’ll come out here and play hard,” Lyon said.