Wallabies must show their mettle

Jul 5, 2013 - 5:42 AM The Wallabies have the momentum, the fitness and the fairytale hero - now they must prove they've come of age to seize the day.

A week after the British and Irish Lions snuffed their shot at glory, negatively sitting on their second-half lead in Melbourne, the boot's on the other foot heading into the series decider at ANZ Stadium.

It's the Wallabies' mental strength, to rise to the occasion and produce when they should, which will determine whether they retain the Tom Richards Cup in similar circumstances to their 2001 triumph in Sydney.

Skipper James Horwill led a brash, young Australian team to the 2011 World Cup when they failed to cope with overly-bright expectations.

Two years on, Horwill now believes the maturing, battle-hardened group is ready to grab their chance at history.

"We're more experienced than what we were previously and that comes with playing games and playing games together, and working our way through situations that we've been able to," he said.

"Certainly last weekend we weren't perfect by any stretch and there's massive areas of improvement but I think the group (now) adapts well to situations which is very pleasing."

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans - whose job is the centre of renewed speculation, which currently has Jake White poised as an imminent replacement - has taken a risk with his bench selection, including six forwards and just two backs.

Deans has beefed up his back-row stocks, led by 110-Test veteran George Smith in what is both his fairytale return and swansong, with two flankers on the bench to push the tiring Lions beyond their limits.

With that in mind, attacking general Will Genia has stressed it's most crucial the Wallabies reverse their early fortunes from the first two Tests and start well by reducing the tourists' physical impact up front.

Australia feel they have more petrol in the tank and can run the Lions off the feet at the end of an extraordinarily long season that started way back in early September.

"We can honestly say we haven't played our best footy in this series so far," said Genia, who expects their best display on Saturday night.

"We have made too many errors to give ourselves the opportunity to play any fast-flowing footy.

"We were able to do that in the last 20-30 minutes of the Test in Melbourne and we will take confidence out of that moving forward."

Genia made a point of describing the Lions as "masters of the set piece" who prefer to play a stop-start game.

Certainly their scrum, which surprisingly wobbled last week, will be stronger with the return of English prop Alex Corbisiero and inclusion of Welsh hooker Richard Hibbard.

In attempting to take the tourists out of their comfort zone with an up-tempo running game, the onus will be put onto Smith to lead the charge at the wider breakdowns.

Smith hasn't played for six weeks due to a knee injury, but fears of former All Blacks coach Graham Henry that he'll be underdone have been dismissed.

"He offers us so much with his experience and his ability at the breakdown," Genia said.

"For me, personally, he has an aura about him and to have him in your side means a lot and it definitely gives me a lift coming into the third Test."

Source: AAP