Sir Graham Henry is picking Australia to be finalists at the upcoming World Cup and says they will be battle hardened after emerging from Pool A, easily the hardest group in the tournament.
The Wallabies have been grouped with England, Wales, Fiji and Uruguay in Pool A. If they top the group, they could meet Samoa or Scotland in their quarter-final and Ireland or France in a semifinal.
Henry has been impressed with Australia's development under coach Michael Cheika, who took over last year. Not only did they claim the Rugby Championship after winning all three games, including a 27-19 defeat of the All Blacks in Sydney, but they are also now ranked second in the world behind the All Blacks.
"I like what he's doing," Henry told Newstalk ZB about Cheika.
"I think we are seeing discipline within the group for the first time for quite some time. We are not getting the stories we were getting one year ago, two years ago about various players in the Australia team not toeing the line and putting the team first. He's got the discipline and culture back in the group.