Wallabies' resurgence fuels high expectations ahead of sold-out test against Argentina

The 42,500-seat Sydney Football Stadium was quickly sold out.

A year after their biggest loss ever in test rugby —- and that coming the year after crashing out of the Rugby World Cup before the quarterfinals for the first time — the Wallabies got some revenge last weekend with a 28-24 victory that was only possible because of No. 8 and skipper Wilson's conviction and his team's hard-nose attitude.

The mantra of Australia's national teams has always been to either win or go down fighting, and that has been restored with the Wallabies under coach Joe Schmidt.

But that's also a very similar trait for the Pumas, who responded to a one-point loss to the Wallabies last year with that thumping 40-point victory at Santa Fe.

“Obviously we know what’s coming. We experienced it first-hand last year,” Wilson said at Australia's captain's run Friday. "For us, it’s about building on our performance (from) last week.

“We were down for 84 minutes on the weekend and only just got the win. We know how much of a class team they are."

Capacity crowd

As he unveiled a starting lineup containing four changes from last week, including starting Tana Edmed at flyhalf, Schmidt spoke about what how much it meant to his squad to be playing for a capacity home crowd and how conscious they were of earning the support.

Wilson agreed.

“Probably hasn’t happened in a little while,” he said. “Shows we’ve been doing something right.”

Schmidt said he'd like to think his squad is a little nervous, “because that edge is something we’re going to need."

“There’s plenty of other things that I think the Argentinians have the potential to throw at us," he added.

Pumas reset

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi made three changes to his starting XV, which will be led by hooker Julián Montoya for a 50th test, and said the stoppage-time loss last week wasn't something his squad was dwelling on.

“We are feeling good in that sense,” he said. “We try to always reset to zero to start the week, no matter what the result is from the week before.”

They're keeping in mind that it's only three weeks since the Pumas beat the No. 1-ranked All Blacks in Argentina for the first time.

“We’ve been working on some concepts, things we need to do to be better," Contepomi said. "The squad is in good spirits. We’ve had a very good preparation.”

A year later

The difference in the Wallabies in 12 months has been remarkable. The narrow series loss to the British and Irish Lions, the series-opening win over World Cup champion South Africa at Johannesburg — their first at Ellis Park in 62 years — and the narrow loss in Cape Town preceded the come-from-behind win last weekend in Townsville.

In 2024, 19 players made a debut for the Wallabies. That testing and churning of players has added depth to the squad that was at its lowest in 2023. To the point where the absence of Noah Lolesio, Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson through injury for this test is being promoted as a chance for Edmed in the pivotal No. 10 jersey, with backup from veteran James O'Connor on the bench.

“We’ve got some young 10s who we know would benefit from the experiences of pressure cooker test matches,” Schmidt said. "The more confidence they build, the better they will be in staying calm in those heated moments where it’s hard to see the wood for the trees.”

In the background, Rugby Australia has pulled itself out of debt two years before it hosts the World Cup, and opened pathways for overseas-based players to be selected more regularly for the Wallabies.

A win over the Pumas in Sydney ahead of home-and-away tests against the All Blacks will only add momentum to Schmidt's grander plans to turn the Wallabies back into the kind of squad that won two World Cups.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby