The Wallabies’ Spring Tour run is the culmination of a fiery determination to prove themselves after a slow start to the year.
While their job is far from over, with epic clashes with Ireland and England to come, Australia has strung together three consecutive wins for the first time in 2016 after its win over France on the weekend.
For McMahon, the 3-0 loss to England was enough pain, the 22-year-old filled with a hunger to turn the Wallabies' fortunes around and one and two-point wins on this trip are testament to that feeling across the squad, he said.
“As a team when you’re in a losing locker room and you all sit down and you start thinking about how much it hurts. I think we’ve just built throughout the year and said that’s it, it’s time for us to step up and it’s all about battling to the very end so we’ve finally bought into that and we’re all fighting,” he said.
“We don’t care what the score is we’re just having a crack and not stopping.
“Personally myself [the turning point] it would have been after the England series and I think all the boys probably – I can’t speak for them – but I think we all had to pull through as team and come together and get tight." - Sean McMahon
McMahon made it through his first Test in almost two months on Saturday confident that his ankle has fully healed, and he certainly had no hesitation in the 25-23 win over France.
“I just went out there and obviously coming back from injury you’re always a little bit hesitant but I thought I'd just go out there and go 110 per cent and do whatever I can to get an opportunity next week. So I was pretty happy with the performance, especially with (it being) my first game back in about seven weeks,” he said.
“Getting back out in Test match footy, your lungs need to open up a little bit.”
McMahon said the small extra efforts, including Nick Phipps’ last-gasp charge down attempt on Camille Lopez showed where the team is at.
“When you go into the locker room after a win like that when every bloke has had a crack right to the very end, you look at that last minute of play, all the boys were trying to be disciplined and just get the ball back and work so hard,” he said.
“You look at Nick Phipps, he just puts an absolute sprinting effort in to put that last charge down on.
“He might not have got to it but it still put the pressure on and that’s what we want in this team – everyone just doing whatever they can to take a win."
