Another round of Super Rugby Pacific is in bank, and it was yet another display of the improved depth and strength of the Australia sides, but it wasn’t a round free from concern.
The rarity of these tours means this crop of Australia players, this crop of Wallabies, must work harder than they’ve ever worked before to ensure Wallaby coach, Joe Schmidt, has no other choice but to pick them.
The addition of six Wallabies including Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has raised expectations for last year's basement dwellers.
Concentrating talent across a quartet of franchises could bolster Australian rugby from the ground up.
The book has now officially closed on the Wallabies’ Autumn Nations Series and with it the 2024 season.
The Wallabies are flying high after two consecutive wins abroad, and the wins have come off the back of hard work, patience, and a set-piece which is steadily improving.
Joe Schmidt has brought in reinforcements in other troubled positions like second row, flyhalf, and centre but has refrained from bringing-in props.
If you had told Wallabies supporters at the start of the year that they would be heading into the Bledisloe series on the same number of wins as the All Blacks, most of them probably would’ve jumped at it.
Could returning behemoth Brandon Paenga-Amosa be the answer to Australia's scrum struggles?