The Wallabies’ bold series victory over Wales will give them the self-belief needed to win the upcoming Rugby Championship according to coach Robbie Deans.
The Australians stole the Melbourne Test match from Wales with a penalty kick by replacement five-eighth Mike Harris after fulltime to wrap up the series ahead of the final game in Sydney on Saturday.
Unlike their arch-rivals New Zealand, Australia haven’t been able to consistently close out tight games and Deans believed the win would go a long way towards that happening.
“There’s no doubt that those sorts of events do produce a deposit in your belief bank so to speak,” Deans said.
“The All Blacks are living proof of that.
“We’re going into what will be the toughest rugby championship ever so we want to leave this one and go into that one in a good frame of mind.”
He said playing and beating Six Nations title-holders Wales was a perfect warm-up for the southern hemisphere series, which includes Argentina for the first time.
Australia open their tournament against New Zealand in Sydney on August 18.
Despite wrapping up the Welsh series, Deans said he would pick a full-strength side for the third match, a day game in front of a full house at Allianz Stadium.
The only change is likely to be troubled star Kurtley Beale going straight back into the starting side at fullback, with Adam Ashley-Cooper moving to the wing to replace Cooper Vuna.
Vuna was cited for a dangerous tackle on Welsh fullback Leigh Halfpenny and will face a judiciary at ARU headquarters in Sydney on Monday.
Beale was charged with common assault after a recent incident at a pub in Brisbane but is free to play with an ARU investigation on hold until the outcome of the court case.
While delighted with the series win which relieves pressure on his own position, Deans said he would be looking for his side to improve.
“We’re looking for a better effort, a more complete performance,” Deans said.
“There was some good stuff and we produced a lot of pressure but the fact of the matter is that we let our foot off the throat and we let Wales back into the game.”
Wallabies backrower Scott Higginbotham said his team wouldn’t settle for a loss after such a character-building win.
“You want to put your best foot forward coming into the four nations Tests,” he said.
“Wales aren’t coming over here to lose three games in a row, they’ll want to put it on us and we obviously want to win the series three-nil.”