When the Australia U20s kick off their World Championship tilt tonight, they want to finish what the Wallabies started.
The next generation of Australian rugby talent hopes to shake off two fifth positions and make it to the semi-finals in Manchester.
Lock Ryan McCauley said they would be taking inspiration from the Wallabies to make that happens.
McCauley remembers watching World Cup matches and being struck by the all-encompassing passion with which the national side played.
“I don’t know if I got up in the middle of the night because of HSC and that but you watch the replays and see the passion that all those boys play with and you just want to replicate that,” he said.
“Every time you put on the jersey for Australia you just want to (deliver),” he said.
“You don’t know when it’s going to be your last game so you want to put your best foot forward and play your hardest game, you’re representing your country and everyone is coming out to watch.”
They’ve had Wallabies influences close to home as well, with national scrum doctor Mario Ledesma coming in to prescribe improvement during their camp.
“He just told us to have good intent and good attitude and have the will to stay up and stay square,” he said.
“You need to want it more than the opposition.
“That was the one thing - he sort of trickles down that the Wallabies do really well and they did really well in the World Cup last year just have that attitude and the will to put it over the other side.”
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika visited the U20s in the lead up to matches against New Zealand last month and captain James Tuttle said it had really motivated the players..
“Michael Cheika had a chat to the boys earlier in that week and went through a few of the things just the self belief sort of thing and backing our own ability on the field,” he said.
“That resonated with a lot of the bloke and it was really valuable for him to come out and share wisdom.
“That’ll sit well and hopefully they can draw from those words, in Manchester."
Tuttle was also in on Cheika’s visit to the Reds in preseason, with the national coach giving every cub insight into the national strategy.
“It was good for the squad to get a bit of a taste before the comp started so a bit more motivation to push for higher honours and that’s shown with the squad they announced last week,” he said.
Australia takes on Scotland in the U20s World Championships on Wednesday morning, 2:30am AEST, LIVE on FOXSPORTS.
