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There’s a Fijian man-mountain named Simon Raiwalui now coaching the Wallaby pack, and he’s instilled a mountain of grunt up front.
Last night the Six-Nations champions Ireland levelled the three-Test series at one apiece with the decider next Saturday at a full house Allianz.
But Ireland only won 26-21 despite 60 per cent possession and 63 per cent territory. The men in green owned the game and it was only good enough to get home by five points.
And that was thanks to the Wallabies’ newly-found grunt.
The 43-year-old Raiwalui was born in Auckland, educated in Sydney, played for the Australian Schoolboys alongside Ben Tune and Joe Roff and then Manly before heading off overseas.
At 201 cms and 123 kgs, he earned 39 caps for Fiji as a lock, and he’s locked the grunt he showed on the paddock into the Wallaby pack, and it has rubbed off on the whole squad.
It will come as no surprise the possession and territory denied Wallabies were forced to make 150 tackles to Ireland’s 95 last night, as Ireland ran 342 metres to the Wallabies’ 271.
And to magnify the problem, New Zealand referee Penalty Williams, christened Paul, blew the pea out of his whistle with 27 penalties, 15 of them against the Wallabies.
The vast majority of the dozen Ireland gave up were late in the game, so whenever the Wallabies looked like mounting a challenge, invariably a penalty against them struck as sharpshooter Jonny Sexton landed four from five.
Yet the Wallabies scored three tries to two.
The first in the second minute was a slashing Kurtley Beale effort from a Bernard Foley reverse pass to run untouched for 30 metres under the posts.
Israel Folau is the only other Wallaby who can match Beale as majestic in full flight, but Ireland kept the Wallaby fullback restrained last night, which was a feat within itself.
The Wallabies face problems for the decider though, with Will Genia suffering from a suspected broken arm or wrist, and Adam Coleman sporting an egg under his right eye that could well be a fractured cheekbone after a head clash with Folau making a tackle.
The Wallaby man mountain of 204 cms and 122 kgs very nearly created an earthquake as he crashed to the turf.
Whether the Wallabies can get up next week without Genia and Coleman is a moot point.
But head coach Michael Cheika can feel well pleased with the courageous loss, even though an L is never in Cheika’s wheelhouse.
This Wallaby squad is going places, and they set the performance bar last week with that 18-9 success.
Beating Ireland in the series will set up the Rugby Championship campaign very nicely, thank you Simon Raiwalui.