Recalled Wallabies star Sean McMahon could be unleashed as soon as the September 25 Test against Argentina after emerging from hotel quarantine in superb shape.
The Japan-based, 27-year-old loose forward hasn’t played for Australia since 2017 but like Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper has benefited from a loosening of Rugby Australia’s eligibility laws.
And Wallabies coach Dave Rennie raved about the latest weapon at his disposal.
Stan Sport is the only place to watch every match of The Rugby Championship, continuing this Saturday with All Blacks vs Argentina and Wallabies vs South Africa – live, extended and ad free. Start your seven day free trial here!
“JP (John Pryor), our trainer, put him through a pretty tough workout yesterday and he was really impressive,” Rennie said.
“He’s in fantastic condition, as Sean always is.
“JP’s report was he reckons he’d be the fittest in the team, that’s how good he is.
READ MORE: Wallabies lock in Spring Tour Test against Japan
READ MORE: What ‘gobsmacked’ coach doesn’t get about Hooper
READ MORE: Big name fall guy from Quade’s fairytale Wallabies return
“For his two weeks in quarantine, JP turned his room into a gym so he’s pretty much been living in a gym for the last couple of weeks.
“And so he’s come out really good and he’s a consideration for next week (against Los Pumas in Townsville).”
So where might McMahon fit in?
Michael Hooper, Rob Valetini and Lachlan Swinton are the incumbent loose forwards and the versatile McMahon appeals as an ideal impact option, a role currently held by Pete Samu.
McMahon has been plying his trade for Suntory Sungoliath since 2017 and Rennie bemoaned the lost years for a quality Wallabies asset in his prime.
“He’s incredibly destructive defensively, very physical, but an excellent skill set and then a dynamic athlete,” Rennie said.
“He’s just a high quality player that has a real point of difference…
“It’s a real pity because he played a lot of Tests then left at such young age, Australian fans have missed out watching him play a lot of Test footy.
“So fantastic to have him in the group, he’s been really impressive.
“He’s been working hard in the isolated ‘gym’ but he’s also done a lot of study around our structures, and he’s been able to come out and hit the ground running, which has been really impressive.”
Meanwhile, Springboks prop Trevor Nyakane detailed the hunger within the world champion pack after being towelled up late by the Wallabies scrum on the Gold Coast.
Nyakane missed that match but is back in the starting lineup at loosehead.
“Definitely it hurts for us as a pack,” Nyakane said.
“It doesn’t matter when and how it happens. For us, we always want to be dominant.
“We strive to be dominant and try to get 100 per cent scrums we go in, so it was tough to see that and we as a team knew we’d have to go back, look at those pictures and try to understand what happened.
“We did that and it’s buried in the back of our minds.
“We know what they’re capable of and know they’ll come much harder than they did last week.
“It will start and end with momentum, same in the set piece so we’ll do all we can to salvage that.”