There have been 12 encounters between the five Australian sides and the five New Zealand ones this season, and at the midpoint of the season the outcomes point to a not insignificant swing away from Kiwi dominance.
It is an enormous boost for tournament organisers, points to rising belief levels in Australia and, probably most importantly, gives Rugby Australia a credible product to sell to broadcasters. Look at his statistics from Friday’s wild win: 10 runs, 52 metres, three defenders beaten and two offloads. Most of those metres would have been hard metres, too, and he is undoubtedly the player who can straighten the attack better than anyone else in that backline. For mine, Foketi is a certain Wallaby this year – he’s a very underappreciated player.