Scott Sio’s return to training represented a major boost for the Wallabies since, in the first choice loosehead prop’s absence against Argentina last weekend, they suddenly looked fragile once again in the area they have always been considered most vulnerable.

The improvement of their scrummaging had been seen as a major factor in this year’s form revival that brought victory in the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship before they negotiated their way through the World Cup’s most treacherous looking pool.

Set-piece solidity is all that the Wallabies, who always have creative players in their back-row and back division, always require to have a chance against even the best of opponents and in that context it is telling that Stephen Larkham, their assistant coach, rates the team as “much better” than the one he was a part of when they won the last World Cup final to take place in Britain, at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium 16 years ago.

Whether that is merely designed to offer encouragement to the current side, given that his half-back partner that day was a young George Gregan, while John Eales captained a team that also contained Tim Horan, Matt Burke, Joe Roff and Ben Tune, only Larkham knows, however they do boast the one breakdown unit that probably even gives Richie McCaw sleepless nights.

Larkham also believes that the Wallaby schedule means they are psychologically ready for what confronts them.

“We’ve had a difficult run to the final, pretty much every game has been final week, We know what we need to do in terms of preparing for a big game because that’s what we’ve been doing for the last few weeks,” he observed.

By contrast, if their coach’s comments of last weekend were to be believed, the problem for the third of the Southern Hemisphere big three this week was preparing for a game that does not matter, but Handre Pollard, their stand-off, claimed yesterday that after a sport of R&R such thoughts have been banished

"There is still one more game to go and another opportunity to represent the Springboks. It is still an amazing honour and we can still go away with third place, even though it is not what we came here for but it is still not that bad,” he said.