The Wallabies are eager to avenge their poor end-of-season form and sendcoach Joe Schmidt out on a high as they prepare for July’s Nations Championship opener.
The Australians will host Ireland, France and Italy to kick off the new tournament, eight months after finishing their year with defeats at the hands of those nations.
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It put a sour note on a wild 2025 campaign that included wins over the British & Irish Lions, South Africa and Argentina, before succumbing to the late slump.
Winger Harry Potter is coming off his first full Test season and was eager to right the wrongs as next year’s World Cup slowly dawns on the horizon.
“I think the big games were a good taste to start with and that certainly put fire in the belly,” he told the media, with tickets on sale for every Wallabies home game.
“I think at the end of the year, when things didn't go so well for us, that definitely put further fire in the belly to get back this year and get back to where we were probably in those games against the Lions and the Bledisloe matches and when the boys were over in South Africa to that standard, which I think was real progress for the team.”
Scrumhalf Jake Gordon was eager to also send coach Schmidt off on a high, departing after the Italy Test in Perth and to be replaced by Reds coach Les Kiss.
“It's probably really important we send Joe off [on a high],” Gordon believes.
“Joe's contribution, especially over the last two years, for a lot of the guys in the team and myself has been awesome, and we would love to get those games back [that we lost] and put in really good performances on home soil in front of our home crowd.
“There are a number of factors, but there's no better way to start off the season at home with hopefully what will be a few good wins.”
The new Nations Championship will see the competition split into two blocks of three weeks, with the first matches hosted by the Southern Hemisphere teams before the action heads now.
It’ll conclude with three days of double-headers at Twickenham to decide the overall winner and places between November 27 and 29.
“I reckon that's going to be brilliant. We've got three double-headers at the end of the year in London and I think that's going to be pretty special for fans,” Potter added, having experienced the magic of a packed Twickenham at both club and country level.
“If we can be in one of the top play-offs, it's going to be a hell of a culmination of a year of Test Rugby at the end of the year and at the home of Rugby.
“I'm thinking that'll be a pretty special weekend.”
