Wallabies find new character to buoy Rugby Championship hopes

Right now Australia are unbeaten and leading the 2022 Rugby Championship. Let that sink in for a moment. For long-suffering fans it is a break in the clouds, a ray of light casting everything and everyone in Wallaby gold, a rugby rainbow that’s beautiful because it cannot last.

Or can it? After all, Australia defeated the team sitting third (Argentina) on the weekend. Currently sitting second (South Africa) are a side the Wallabies conquered twice last year. And the team in fourth (New Zealand) are in an almighty slump, having lost three Tests in a row for the first time in 24 years. The All Blacks have now lost five of their last six Tests, and up until Sunday, so had the Wallabies.

But the 41-26 win against Los Pumas has instilled hope, much of it drawn from the way it was won. Once again the Wallabies muffed the start and were punished on the scoresheet. But as they did against England in Perth, they kept their nerve. The tougher it got, the better they played. If the darkest hour is indeed before dawn, Sunday was a day character – and characters – shone through.

Once again, the Wallabies were sucker-punched before the kick-off. Last month, it was playmaker Quade Cooper going down with a calf injury in the first Test warm-up and not being able to contest the Ella-Mobbs series. In Mendoza it was Michael Hooper, the side’s best player, captain and seemingly indestructible talisman, flying home with a “mindset” issue on the eve of the first Test.

Dave Rennie had lost nine frontline players to injury in the England series, a devastating attrition rate. Before this Test too Samu Kerevi blew his ACL and Dave Porecki suffered a concussion to join Angus Bell (toe), Andrew Kellaway (hamstring), Scott Sio (shoulder), Tom Banks