Joe Schmidt is expecting his side to be feeling “a little bit nervous” as they head into their second match against Los Pumas on Saturday, with new blood and combinations set to be tested in Sydney.
The Wallabies will secure the Puma Trophy for the first time in three years should they win, with Schmidt expecting the visitors to come out swinging in front of a sellout crowd.
Watch the Wallabies tackle Los Pumas at Allianz Stadium live and on-demand via Stan Sport.
“I'd like to think they're feeling a little bit nervous because that edge is something we're going to need,” Schmidt said to reporters following the team announcement.
“We've really pushed discipline this week, that first half. I think there were too many access points and that just allowed them to put scoreboard pressure on us. Obviously, making sure we've got a couple of solutions from those midfield scrums.
“There's plenty of other things that I think the Argentinians have the potential to throw at us. So we've tried to cover some bases and we've also tried to build on our ability to score.
“We've got to try to make sure that we galvanise any of those opportunities to exert that pressure and then to finish it off.
“We're at a sold-out stadium in our own home turf. That means something to the players.
“The players are very conscious of earning that support, and I know that they'll work hard on Saturday to continue doing it.”
While Tane Edmed has eaten up the headlines as one of the new players set to hit the ground running, there will be several other faces making their return to the gold jersey, with Queensland Reds hooker Josh Nasser among them from the bench.
“I haven't played test footy in about a year now, so any opportunity to pull the gold jersey back on, [it’s] an absolute privilege for me,” said Nasser to reporters.
“I've been in the squad for a few weeks now, training away, so [it’s] good to get an opportunity.
“We've got a great group of hookers in the country at the moment, which is awesome obviously. 'Fez' [Matt Faessler] and Billy [Pollard] have been doing a great job, and 'Beeps' [Brandon Paenga-Amosa] obviously.
“But to come in and get more opportunities, it's awesome and hopefully you take it with both hands.
“Every front row loves a challenge, otherwise we wouldn't be playing the game. To come up against someone like [Julian] Montoya, he's a world-class hooker, and he's proved that over many years now, it should be a good challenge.”
Schmidt, having brought on 19 debutants to the Wallabies in 2024 alone, is all too familiar with the challenges of bringing in new players, but backs Edmed’s growing versatility to shine through.
As the experienced coach reminded reporters, at some point, players have to be exposed to the ‘pressure cooker’ that is international rugby.
“He's been very versatile for us,” Schmidt said of the young flyhalf.
“In the 17th minute in Cape Town, Tate McDermott hurt his ankle. Mike Cron was teaching him [Edmed] how to feed the scrum at half-time in Cape Town.
“Then 'Su' [Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii] was ruled out. I said, ‘Hang on, Crono, no, I need him. He's going to have to play in the midfield.’
“Tane, he was super in that game. For a patched-together backline, I thought he filled in really well. That would have contributed a little bit to his confidence.
“We wanted to give him more confidence and more time to, I guess, familiarise himself with running the team in a pivotal position like number ten. We'd love to give him the best chance in his specialist position, and the best opportunity to do that was to put him in from the start.
“It's nice to have the security of James O'Connor available to come off the bench, as he did last week.”
Schmidt confirmed that Ben Donaldson and Tom Lynagh are likely to be back for the Bledisloe Cup series, and with James O’Connor likely to head overseas to Leicester Tigers, Edmed serves as the final piece in the flyhalf puzzle.
“We've got some young tens who we know would benefit from the experiences of pressure cooker test matches,” Schmidt explained.
“The more confidence they build, I think the better they will be in staying calm in those heated moments where it's hard to see the wood for the trees.”
