The Wallabies will play in their fourth World Cup final on Saturday.
The Wallabies have one more step on their journey this weekend, when they vie for a record third Rugby World Cup.
Saturday will be 38 days since they began their Cup campaign in earnest, after months of preparation.
So, how did they find themselves here?
POOL A
First they had to make it through the so-called ‘Pool of Death’ - facing three top 10 sides in group.
Australia 28 - Fiji 13
They had to wait almost a week for their World Cup campaign to get underway, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. David Pocock had two tries off the Wallabies’ rolling maul as both sides showed improved set pieces.Sekope Kepu scored Australia’s third try in the 43rd minutes. A Bernard Foley penalty in the 70th minute sealed an opening win for the Wallabies.
Australia 65 - Uruguay 3
The Wallabies had their most emphatic win of the tournament over Uruguay in Birmingham. The largest winning margin in the tournament to that point, Australia ran in 11 tries, including doubles to Ben McCalman, Drew Mitchell and Sean McMahon, showing the depth of the Wallabies in the back row, especially. Mitchell’s haul made him Australia’s most prolific World Cup try scorer.
Australia 33 - England 13
The Wallabies relegated England to tournament spectators with a win over the hosts at Twickenham. In their biggest game to that point, Wallabies flyhalf Bernard Foley scored two tries and 18 points in front of the posts in a game-breaking performance. Matt Giteau had a late sweetener, with a try in the final minutes taking the Wallabies to a 20-point lead. Wallabies back rowers Michael Hooper and David Pocock were instrumental in the breakdown in the dominant victory.
Australia 15 - Wales 6
The Wallabies’ final pool match was another critical one, with the top spot in the pool up for grabs. A grinding game was ultimately decided in a 10-minute defensive display. Two yellow cards - to Dean Mumm and Will Genia - left the Wallabies with 13 men for roughly eight minutes in the final quarter of the game. The Dragons got close to the line on two occasions but were held up, including by one desperate effort from Ben McCalman. Flyhalf Bernard Foley booted all the Wallabies’ points in the win, which set up a meeting with Scotland..
THE KNOCK-OUTS
They’d been playing do or die matches since week four but the Wallabies’ sudden death stage started for real a fortnight ago.
Australia 35 - Scotland 34
The Wallabies ran in five tries to three in their quarter-final match up, but it wasn’t enough to seal an easy victory. After Scotland centre Mark Bennett scored an intercept try in the 73rd minute, his captain Greig Laidlaw converted and put the Scots up by two points. A Wallabies penalty from a Scotland line out gave Australia a last chance to take the points. Enter Bernard Foley. The Wallabies fly half slotted the match-winning penalty with one minute to go, in their closest match of the tournament so far.
Australia 29 - Argentina 15
Australia’s Rob Simmons set the tone early in the Wallabies’ semi-final, scoring the fastest try of the Rugby World Cup 2015 just 68 seconds into the match. It was the first of four Wallabies tries in the night, the other three all coming from winger Adam Ashley-Cooper. Los Pumas lifted their intensity midway through the second half and put the Wallabies under pressure on their own line. Immense efforts from Scott Fardy (16 tackles) and Kane Douglas (15 tackles) led the way for the Wallabies as they kept the Argentinians tryless.
