Wallabies fullback Tom Wright has welcomed a potential aerial raid from Ireland as the superstar prepares to return to the international arena.
Wright is back in the Test set-up for the first time since the start of the Rugby Championship after a long-term knee injury kept him out for close to a year.
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With the Brumby out, the Wallabies found themselves struggling to negate the high ball as they closed out the season.
This included against Ireland, who retained 14 kicks in their 46-19 win over the Wallabies in November, eight of which were contestable, as the Aussies managed to get back just one contestable.
There were three further instances that led to tries, keeping the Wallabies on guard for a repeat effort.
Wright believes it’s not a skill issue letting the side down, calling on the Australians to outwork their counterparts.
“Ireland, for a long time, has been really strong in that area,” Wright told reporters.
“We've just got to have more gold jerseys than green jerseys. We've got to be hungrier and see where the cards land, which is exciting for us because it's a no-talent-required area.
“If you can just be around the ball more than your opposite number, you've got a fairly good chance [of retaining].”
Wright feels comfortable about his potential Test return after stringing together strong performances for the ACT Brumbies during the back end of Super Rugby Pacific.
“I was under no illusion that I was just going to come back and play arguably one of my greater games I've played in a gold jersey like I did in Johannesburg, and we had an awesome win. I never set my goal to land there and play that well straight away,” he said.
“I missed just shy of eight months' worth of football and it was going to be a few steps to climb before I was able to replicate that football. I came in, I think I played five games and then we got to Wellington and got a hiding.
“It was a sad way to go out of the Super Rugby season, but I was really delighted to be able to get back in, have no hiccups physically around my knee and then, secondly, around my mentality with that.”
Wright is confident any mental ‘garbage’ is well past him after a long road back from injury cost him nearly nine months of his career, one of his longest stints out of the sport.
“You start thinking about the kids at home and what’s this is going to do for the family, letting the teammates down because I came off after five minutes and we lost that game after a really good game the week before so you end up in a spiral of thoughts,” he explained on his rollercoaster of emotions post-injury.
“When you sit down and reflect on it, it all ends up being a whole heap of garbage that you thought about in hindsight, which is part of the rollercoaster that you go on. Part of the rehab process, too, is that you start to spin off a little bit, and then you come back to where your feet are.
“If you just start looking all the way here when I just got surgery, it becomes a really big sort of broad view. Hindsight was great, but even speaking with other guys who have been injured long-term, it's very, very natural.
“…I haven't, for quite some time, had a long-term injury or pretty well an injury. Once I got back within the group, it was all guns blazing, but you miss that camaraderie of being around the group.”
