Wallabies sick of nearly men tag says returning star

Returning hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa says the frustrated Wallabies are sick of “almost” delivering on their promise after falling short in their Bledisloe Cup opener against New Zealand.

The Australians are in Wellington ahead of the second Test against the All Blacks on Saturday, stewing over a slow start in game one in Sydney before going down 31-28.

Paenga-Amosa impressed off the bench in his first Test appearance since 2021, then leaving the Queensland Reds to join French club Montpellier.

With a poor second half behind their heavy Sante Fe loss to Argentina in the Rugby Championship, the 28-year-old said the Wallabies won’t be happy until they put together a full 80-minute performance.

“We’re done with the whole ‘almost’, we ‘almost’ got there in the end,” the Queenslander said.

“We want to change that, we want to finish the job, get it done.

“Carrying that momentum into this game in Wellington is really important. ”

After signing with the Western Force in April, Paenga-Amosa was brought back into the Wallabies fold for their Argentina tour and said he relished being back in the Test arena.

“It felt incredible – it’s been a while and I was stoked to be back out there,” he said, bringing his Test total to 15 appearances.

He said he’d grown as a player through his northern hemisphere stint, where set-piece is so valued.

“I feel a lot more confident around my role as a hooker,” said the former garbage collector.

“I’ve learned different things, especially around set-piece; I’ve definitely sharpened different areas of that.

“Being over in France, it’s a very rigorous, tough competition, it’s a long season and it’s a physical game so I’d like to say I’ve added that physicality aspect, both in defence and carry, and even getting over the ball.”

With a two-Test series this year, the coveted Bledisloe Cup will remain in New Zealand for a 23rd straight year regardless of the result because the Wallabies need to win the series to take it from the holders.

In their most recent Wellington clash, in 2020, the teams drew 16-16.

Despite no silverware being on the line, Australian halfback Tate McDermott expected a response from the Kiwis back in front of their home fans.

Following two losses to South Africa, the All Blacks have copped plenty of criticism for their sloppy showing in almost blowing a 21-0 lead against Australia on Saturday.

“I think they’ll be disappointed with how certain elements of that second half went for them,” said McDermott, who is looking to return to the starting side.

“But I think they’ll be confident in knowing that they created a lot, they just didn’t finish it.

“I know that they’ll certainly want to finish their last home game of the year in a good fashion because it’s been a pretty tough couple of weeks for them, aside from their victory on the weekend.”