BACK ROW BEAST TO HUNT PUMAS
SEAN McMahon hopes his trademark physicality will help Australia continue its winning ways, should he earn a Wallabies recall this Rugby Championship.
The explosive loose forward has been contracted with Suntory Sungoliath in Japan for four years and hasn’t played for the Wallabies since 2017.
However, talks with Wallabies coach Davie Rennie persuaded him to fly back to Australia, where he looms as a likely inclusion to face Argentina on Saturday night.
While he’s enjoyed his time in the Land of the Rising Sun, McMahon says he’s missed the feeling of being in Wallabies camp.
“Everyone misses throwing on the gold jersey when they don’t have the chance to put it on any more,” he said on Monday. “Playing teams at such a high level, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, you miss those games, especially when you’re sitting on the sidelines watching it from the tele.
“It’s good to be back and the chance to potentially do it again is exciting.”
McMahon isn’t the only old hand Rennie has lured back from Japan – Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper have made emphatic returns to the national side in recent weeks, breaking two- and four-year droughts respectively.
McMahon lauded the combination of youth and experience in the current Wallabies crop.
“It’s a little bit different. I’d nearly classify myself as an old bull now, there’s so many young faces around,” he said, with a laugh.
“They’re all great lads, a lot of energy, which is great.
“There’s a lot of experience as well, with Hoops (Michael Hooper) and Slips (James Slipper) still here.”
The Wallabies have bounced back from their disappointing Bledisloe Cup campaign to knock off world champions South Africa twice in two weeks, and McMahon says he hopes to help the Aussies continue their winning ways in the two matches against the Pumas.
“To come in and see how they’ve bounced back against South Africa, the world champs, has been fantastic, and to see how hard the boys are pushing themselves at training,” he said.
“For me, it’s just coming in and trying to bring that energy that I’ve always been known to bring – 110 per cent – and bring that physicality.”
Despite needing to complete two weeks of hotel quarantine on arrival in Australia, McMahon looks ready to do just that.
He was released from lockup last Tuesday and arrived at the Wallabies’ Townsville camp in tip-top shape, already impressing the coach with his workrate.
“Our trainer put him through a pretty tough workout yesterday and he was in fantastic condition,” Rennie said. “His report was he reckoned he’d be the fittest in this team. That’s how good he is.”
McMahon credits his fitness to the Wallabies’ strength and conditioning staff, who decked out his hotel room with gym equipment.
“I was just basically living in a gym for two weeks,” McMahon said. “The day consisted of me getting up and knocking out two or three hours of training in the morning, having a little snooze and some lunch and then jumping back on the bike for about 10km in the afternoon.
“There’s not a lot to do when you’re stuck in a room. It’s kind of like a glorified jail cell.”
All signs are that McMahon will join the back row on Saturday night but the 27year-old is taking nothing for granted.
“There’s plenty of competition, especially in this environment at the moment. There’s a lot of youth and then you’ve got the experience of Hoops,” McMahon said.
“It’s great. It pushes you to want to learn quickly and get your head around everything.
“Those boys have been more than willing to help me out and try to get my knowledge up to speed as quickly as possible.”