Wallabies riding the wave but they’re wary of pumped-up and passionate Pumas

AN already successful home Test season for the Wallabies has come full circle ahead of a final Rugby Championship clash with emotion-charged Argentina when Australia will push for a fourth win in a row, which seemed beyond them a month ago.

Captain Michael Hooper expects heightened emotions from the Pumas in their Australian sign-off after a highly eventful few days which included the tourists losing six players after a midweek border breach left them stranded in NSW.

They were also stirred by the “photo-gate incident” in which Argentinian captain Julian Montoya was left out of a skippers’ picture in Townsville last week, which coach Mario Ledesma said “disrespected” their team.

Hooper put that kerfuffle down as just a “really logistically hard thing to set up”, which most of the Wallabies’ campaign had been.

Coach Dave Rennie lamented the ever-changing Covid rules and restrictions which have been thrown at his team, now littered with tried and tested veterans filling jumpers in key positions which were worn by young players when the Wallabies began the campaign against France.

Many of those same next generation players, like flyhalf Noah Lolesio, were mauled by the All Blacks, before the Wallabies turned their fortunes around remarkably against world champions South Africa, with Quade Cooper’s stunning return and Samu Kerevi making a massive impact.

For the final home Test on the Gold Coast, Sean McMahon has been recalled and the oldest Wallaby since World War II, 38-year-old Greg Holmes, will also play in a team with 11 different faces from the side which opened the season against world No.6 France in July.