Trumpeting like Donald Trump, Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i says the Wallabies can be great again as early as this Saturday with a big bounce-back win over the All Blacks.
Thumped 50-19 last Saturday in Auckland, Australia has a shot at Bledisloe Cup redemption, if not quite the chance to regain the prized trans-Tasman trophy, in the return bout in Sydney.
While remaining tight-lipped about how the Wallabies can reverse a 31-point deficit in seven days, Sua'ali'i is confident they will win the all-important aerial battle at Accor Stadium after losing the high-ball contest at their Eden Park burial ground.
After winning the aerial shootout 8-3 against the world champion Springboks three weeks ago, the Wallabies crashed back to earth as the savvy New Zealanders dominated Les Kiss's men 8-3 in the bombing raids.
The All Blacks deliberately allowed Australia's back three first access to the high balls while bustling them into error and continually cleaning up the loose balls.
"I don't really want to speak about it because I don't want to give them our game plan going in for this week," Sua'ali'i said.
"For us, it's watch the game back and, yeah, we know what we need to do, going into this Saturday.
"I'm very confident in our coaches and us as boys to really focus on that area and I feel like we'll be great this weekend."
Winger Harry Potter was a touch more expansive, acknowledging the high-ball battle had become more important than ever, and that the Wallabies had been working overtime to correct last Saturday's blunders.
"Over the last two years it's been a real interesting evolution of what the tactics are," Potter said.
"There used to be escorts and people, teams got really, really good at that. Teams have tried retreating catches, going up for it, as you saw New Zealand were putting sometimes two people into the contest.
"So it's constantly evolving and it's always been an important part of the game. The tactics are the thing that's changing quite rapidly."
The Bledisloe gone for a 23rd straight year, the Wallabies are also coming off a loss for the first time in the Kiss era post Joe Schmidt.
"The first five games, really positive, like four wins and a draw," Potter said.
"And then the first time in the changing room with Les with a loss after the weekend. It was a tough one to take. Going to Eden Park, losing by 50 points was really hard.
"We didn't exactly need Les to tell us how to feel. We were certainly feeling it, but he's been really pragmatic this week. He's given us a really good review over the last couple of days and we've got some solutions and a great game plan to go this weekend."
Australian Associated Press
