'It's been spoken about this week': The new challenge facing Wallabies

James Slipper’s Wallabies will christen the new Allianz Stadium from an international perspective on Saturday night, with the skipper declaring his side can make the Sydney ground a “fortress”.

But the prop hopes his Australia unit doesn’t need extra motivation when it battles South Africa in the Rugby Championship, instead focusing on addressing a poor record of inconsistency that’s haunted the side in recent times.

History looks ripe for the taking with the Wallabies well positioned on the four-nations table after beating the Springboks 25-17 last weekend in Adelaide and a struggling New Zealand outfit on deck next round.

But Slipper recognised a much-improved effort would be needed to beat the Springboks a second time and hit the Bledisloe Cup series with genuine momentum.

“It’s been a challenge for us this year, we haven’t been able to back up a good performance with another one and it’s been spoken about this week,” he told reporters on Friday.

“I’d like to be in a team where we don’t rely on a stadium to get us up for a game, but it’s naturally going to be a help for us.

“I can see this stadium turning into a fortress for us … a big Sydney crowd, passionate about their rugby.

“And that’s what we plan to do, is to make sure we play a game not only for our fans around Australia, but the fans that come in and watch this.”

There’s plenty to fix from last weekend’s win, particularly a poor lineout showing and a scrum that was under plenty of pressure at times.

Coach Dave Rennie has opted to back in the same crew to improve, naming an unchanged Wallabies side for the first time in almost 50 Tests.

“(Assistant coach) Dan (McKellar) had us training pretty hard on the lineout, it was a big part of our game that struggled on the weekend,” Slipper said.

“You got to be honest there and you’ve got to get better because you know the Springboks are a good team.

“Not only the lineout, the scrum was under pressure at times; the set piece is just so important at Test match rugby.”

South Africa sits last on the table but could easily end the round level on wins with current leaders Argentina, who are once again battling the All Blacks away from home.

Slipper acknowledged it was all there for the taking across the next three games.

“Argentina are proving they’re a pretty tough team to beat … it goes to show you how tight this competition is,” he said.

“We’ve got four of the best teams in the world going head-to-head week in, week out … we’re obviously coming off a good result, but I guess because it’s such a short competition, each win and each back-up win is crucial.

“Momentum is a thing in sport and hopefully we gain a bit of momentum going into that clash with the All Blacks.”

– Alex Mitchell