Wallabies prop Angus Bell is adamant the team is still heading in the right direction in the hunt for a clean sweep of the November Nations Championship Tests.
The Aussies are out to lock up a top-three finish in their hemisphere ahead of the Finals Weekend at Twickenham, starting with England on Monday (AEDT).
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The expectations were clear for Bell and the Wallabies to finish the year.
“Three from three,” he responded when asked what success looks like, set to also face Scotland and Wales.
“That's why we all play rugby and why we love representing the Wallabies and there's nothing better than winning a Test match for your country against quality opposition.
“We're really excited for the next four weeks to get some Test match wins.”
The Wallabies (nine points) sit third in the South, with New Zealand and South Africa (15 points) the only undefeated teams in the competition.
Their campaign started with tight losses to Ireland and France before a blowout win over Italy.
This began a six-game unbeaten streak for the Australians, including a victory over the Springboks, but came crashing down to earth after two heavy defeats to the All Blacks.
“I'd say rugby's not really a linear line. There's a lot of ups and downs, both in people's careers and with teams," prop Bell said on their 2026 growth and form.
“As we know, it's always a bit of a rollercoaster, but as long as you're trending upwards, I think that's the main point of getting better collectively as a team and also individually."
The Bledisloe Cup clean sweep left the group licking their wounds as they prepare for a battle with the old enemy, confident they have figured out what went wrong.
“The ability of the All Blacks to be really quick with the ball and their really fast breakdown put us under pressure through our movement speed," Bell believes.
"They were excellent at that, and that's where we struggled, and that's something that we've implemented at training to get better at.
“We didn't learn the lessons from the first Test match, and then they exposed us on the other ones in the second. I feel like the training week we had prior to coming over here and also now today has been really good and we've actually addressed those and fixed those.
"...There were some harsh review sessions, which we definitely needed but we've overcome that now and implemented those learnings into training today and going forward with the week.”
