Sydney (AFP) - Captain James Slipper warned on Friday that the Wallabies must improve their lineout and scrum if they want to ride the momentum of beating South Africa with another win over the world champions this weekend.
Australia are chasing back-to-back victories for the first time this season and with the Rugby Championship wide open it would leave them in a strong position with two games to play against a misfiring All Blacks.
They currently sit level on nine points with Argentina after two wins from three, four points clear of New Zealand and five ahead of South Africa at the tournament's midway point.
"Argentina are proving they're a pretty tough team to beat...it goes to show you how tight this competition is," Slipper told reporters in Sydney ahead of Saturday's sold-out clash with the Springboks.
"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 big thing in sport and hopefully we gain a bit of momentum going into that clash (in Melbourne this month) with the All Blacks."
While Australia hung on to beat South Africa 25-17 in Adelaide last week, it took a huge defensive effort.
It was one of their best performances this year, but they conceded 16 penalties and lost six lineouts on their own throw, which allowed the Springboks to build constant pressure.
Emotional week
"(Assistant coach) Dan (McKellar) had us training pretty hard on the lineout, it was a big part of our game that struggled last weekend," said Slipper, who will play his 121st Test, equalling Michael Hooper, who is on mental health leave, and former teammate Adam Ashley-Cooper.
"You've 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."
Coach Dave Rennie has kept faith with his winning side, making no changes to the starting team for the first time since he took the job in late 2019.
Slipper stressed it was important for them to start showing consistency after failing to win successive matches so far this season.
"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 said.
It has also been challenging for the Springboks, who have lost two in a row and not won on Australian soil since 2013.
Captain Siya Kolisi admitted it had been hard dealing with the latest defeat.
"It was a tough loss last week...we left a lot of opportunities out there and we are hurting," he said."We have worked as hard as we can to make sure we are better.It's been an emotional week.
"This game is important to us," he added of Saturday's showdown."We've not been consistent and we want to be as consistent as we can.
"We have to be better this week, we have no choice."
