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SYDNEY - The Wallabies left Sydney on Thursday confident they have put in a solid preparation for a shot at an unprecedented third World Cup rugby crown in France.
Coach John Connolly said anything less than bringing home the Webb Ellis Trophy would be a failure.
"I guess everyone that goes to the World Cup - if you're in the top seven or eight countries in the world - the goal is to win the World Cup, so anything short of that is a failure," he said.
Connolly said it would be an advantage for his players to get away from the intense scrutiny they had faced in Australia in recent weeks by having their final camp on foreign soil.
The Wallabies, World Cup champions in 1991 and 1999, will spend a week in Portugal at a training camp at Vilamoura before arriving in Paris on August 29.
Their opening match in the tournament will be against Japan in Lyon on September 8.
Connolly has worked hard on turning his forwards pack from a liability into an asset which gives enough quality ball to their proven backs to do the job at the six-week tournament.
The team's "scrum doctor" Alec Evans rates the current Wallabies pack on a par with the best Australian forwards of 1984 and 1999.
"They're right up there," he said.
"In some facets they're probably better with their size and physicality.
"The lineout is very strong and the scrum has come good, but they're big athletes who can run the ball as well."
Evans, 68, will not be accompanying the Wallabies to the World Cup after developing complications from a freak team training mishap last month.
Recognised as one of the best technical skills coaches in world rugby and a former coach of Wales, Evans has serious lung problems and has been advised not to make the long flight to Europe.
Another team member who will have to remain vigilant during the flight and at the World Cup is No 8 David Lyons, who is on a blood-thinning agent since being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis of the calf five weeks ago.
The 43-test forward must stay "pretty active on the plane" and said he would likely have to persist with the medication for the entire World Cup.
Centre Stirling Mortlock will captain the Wallabies and his leadership has been fully endorsed by Australian Rugby Union supremo John O'Neill.
Mortlock, who was hauled over the coals for staying out late with a group of teammates on last year's Wallabies tour of Europe, was praised for his impressive handling of the Lote Tuqiri-Matt Dunning drinking affair.
He was the only player involved in a team meeting to determine the best form of punishment for Tuqiri and Dunning for their all-night drinking session in Brisbane after a five-day boot camp this month.
Tuqiri and Dunning have been slapped with a midnight curfew during the World Cup as punishment.
"Stirling Mortlock's involvement and leadership in this (episode) has been first rate," O'Neill said.
"The leadership group has really taken some positive and very proactive steps to put in place protocols and codes of behaviour and Stirling himself is stepping right up to the mark in having those conversations with the team collectively and with individuals when need be," O'Neill said.
Mortlock said at the official farewell for the team yesterday that his players were fired up by the desire to bring the trophy home for retiring veterans George Gregan and Stephen Larkham.
Both will play their final tests for Australia in France.
"The whole squad are totally looking forward to the challenge and hopefully sending off George Gregan and Stephen Larkham in fitting style," Mortlock said.
- AFP
