Wallabies coach Dave Rennie hopes rising confidence within Australia's Super Rugby ranks can help snap a 19-year Bledisloe Cup drought, but Darcy Swain has warned the task in clubland is about to get a whole lot tougher.
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Three of Australia's five Super Rugby Pacific sides banked wins in round 11, with Rennie hoping improved results against Kiwi rivals will convince Australians "they can stand up" against the best in the world.
But Wallabies lock Darcy Swain says the toughest challenges are still to come as his ACT Brumbies prepare to fly across the Tasman to face the Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday.
Confidence is certainly high within the Brumbies ranks, as it should be. They sit second on the table having proven their ability to both dazzle and grind. But they know they have to go up a notch.
"We've had the luck of the draw where we've had the Highlanders and the Hurricanes, and now we've got the Chiefs. That for us, is progressively getting harder," Swain said.
MORE RUGBY UNION
"If anything it's going to prep us when we, touch wood, hopefully come into finals. This week is going to be a huge challenge. We had the Highlanders in Melbourne and that game on the weekend, but we haven't had to play in New Zealand yet.
"We haven't had to deal with travel, we haven't had to play in front of a foreign crowd. There's a whole lot more going into this week especially compared to the past couple of weeks. We can't get ahead of ourselves, we've just got to keep doing what's working.
"We'll take confidence away from the way we've been playing but we've just got to keep nailing it, not get ahead of ourselves and keep doing what's working for us."
The Brumbies have claimed back-to-back wins over New Zealand-based teams for the first time since 2014 having accounted for the Highlanders and Hurricanes over the past two rounds.
Dan McKellar's side racked up 42 points against the Hurricanes this past Sunday, a day after the NSW Waratahs sent shockwaves around the competition with a stirring win over an undermanned Canterbury Crusaders outfit.
Now Rennie wants to see more of it with a long-term vision of reclaiming the Bledisloe Cup, which will be up for grabs in a two-game series across Melbourne [September 15] and Auckland [September 24].
"It's important that we do well against the Kiwi sides. What it does is it gives us confidence, it gives our players confidence to know that they're playing against some of the best players in the world and they can stand up," Rennie said.
"A big challenge for our Super sides is developing enough depth to be consistently competitive. We'd be confident we could pick a really strong 23 that the bench we would have coming into the game could add value. That's crucial against the All Blacks because they've got so much depth.
"We're certainly more competitive, teams can take a lot of confidence out of that and hopefully we see the same sort of form this weekend."
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC ROUND 12
Saturday: Waikato Chiefs v ACT Brumbies at Waikato Stadium, 5.05pm (AEST). Broadcast live on Stan Sport.
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