Rugby: Wallabies hungry for success after World Cup failure

Star Wallabies flanker David Pocock says Australia's recent World Cup disappointment has left the team hungrier than ever to achieve the ultimate success in four years' time.

The injury-hit Wallabies failed to find anything close to their top form in New Zealand, losing to Ireland in the group stages before being knocked out of the title race by the all-conquering All Blacks in the semis.

A win over Wales in the bronze-medal play-off ensured the Wallabies didn't leave NZ empty handed.

But Pocock wants to go two steps further when the tournament shifts to England in 2015, saying the Wallabies need to prove they can consistently beat the best teams in the world if they are to have a legitimate claim on the Webb Ellis Cup.

"I mean four years is a very long time in rugby. But after coming up short, you're definitely a lot hungrier now," Pocock said on Friday.

"The work starts now in terms of improving as a team and becoming the most deserving team.

"If you look at New Zealand, they've been the best team in the world for the past four years. That showed in the final (when they beat France 8-7).

"Although they didn't put in a better performance, they got there in the end. That's where we've got to get."

Pocock was Australia's best player at the World Cup, and again looms as a key figure in the Wallabies' upcoming spring tour of Europe, which takes in games against the Barbarians and Wales.

In what has been a hectic few months, the 23-year-old had just one week's rest after the World Cup before linking up with his Western Force teammates for the start of pre-season training.

And he has been just as busy off the field, launching his new book 'Openside: The David Pocock Story'.

"If you're a die-hard rugby fan there's a lot of rugby there. If you're not so keen on the rugby side of things, it'll still be interesting in terms of the off-field stuff," said Pocock, whose charity Eightytwenty Vision helps raise the standards of living in his country of birth Zimbabwe.

- AAP