Sean McMahon will play his first Test since 2017 after being included on the Wallabies bench for Saturday’s Rugby Championship finale against Argentina on the Gold Coast.
The abrasive loose forward follows in the footsteps of Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper as a Japan-based player now getting picked for the Wallabies as coach Dave Rennie casts his net wide ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
McMahon, 27, is in his physical prime and Rennie recently said he was probably the fittest player in the Wallabies squad after working out in his hotel gym during quarantine.
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“Oh, he’s very mad,” Kerevi said of his Suntory Sungoliath club teammate in a recent interview with Big Sports Breakfast.
“He has a saying – ‘ETW’ (earn the weekend) – has it tattooed… he understands the amount of work that has to be put in to earn a couple of orange juices at the end of the week.
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“He doesn’t care what jersey he has on or who you are.
“He’s kind of like a raging bull – awesome to have on the team, but you’d never want to play against him.”
The Wallabies will be without winger Marika Koroibete for the match after he was released to spend time with his family in Melbourne.
The full team will be named later today with McMahon’s return sure to be one of the major talking points.
“The body had copped a fair hiding by the time I got to 2017,” McMahon said recently.
“Japan’s done wonders for me and my body, it’s definitely extended my career by a year or two.
“I’m feeling fresh, it’s been good for me up in Japan, but I’m looking forward to the contact side of things back at international level to see if I’m still capable of standing up to the big dogs.”