The mercury continues to rise in a hot and humid Indiana, USA, as does the excitement in the Wallabies camp for their first match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, now only 12 days away.
“We’re really focused on day by day here at the moment and we’re training really hard, which has been exciting,” Vice-Captain Michael Hooper told ARU Media.
“We’ve enjoyed our time in the hot US, but we’re really excited to get to the UK, to hit the ground there and take off running.
“The countdown is on but we’re trying to keep a day to day focus.
“We’re all about improvements here and we’ve been working on little things.
“Once we hit the UK we want to start thinking about that game (Fiji) and it’ll be all guns hoe from there.”
With the Wallabies squad set to use two different sets of XVs to navigate a tight turnaround across three World Cup pool matches, the possibilities are exciting as to who will end up in that final starting XV.
“You just want to put on that jersey and it sounds like everyone is going to get their chance so we’re looking forward to that,” said Hooper.
“I love playing in number seven and I love playing for Australia. Any chance you get to represent your country and do it in your position is fantastic.
“So whatever that may be you just want to get into that position and have a run.”
With Fiji the first challenge for the Wallabies when they play the Pacific Islanders on Wednesday 23 September in Cardiff, Wales, the attention is turning to the flying Fijians.
One man who knows the inner workings of Fiji Rugby intimately is Wallabies Centre, Tevita Kuridrani.
“I’m really excited and looking forward to playing Fiji. I know a lot of those boys and I’m really looking forward to it.
“We had a week off last week and had a light training, I’m feeling fresh and looking forward to the tournament.”
The Fijian Rugby family is wide and Tevita shares a special bond with Canterbury Crusaders gun winger Nemani Nadolo, with the pair being cousins.
“I’m excited to play him (Nadolo). I didn’t really know he could kick until last weekend. I was a bit surprised,” he laughed.
The Wallabies depart America on Sunday to head to Bath in the United Kingdom for their final Rugby World Cup preparations.
