Tatafu Polota-Nau may be far and away Australia's most experienced hooker but the 84-Test veteran is not expecting to swan back into the Wallabies No.2 jersey.
From the discomfort of an English heatwave, Polota-Nau watched his former Waratahs understudy Tolu Latu and Reds bolter Brandon Paenga-Amosa step up to the Test arena with little more than a backward glance.
Veteran: Tatafu Polota-Nau is ready and raring to battle for his Wallabies place.
Paenga-Amosa started every Test against Ireland after just one season of Super Rugby and Latu put behind him a season on the outer at the Waratahs to shore up the Australian front row from the bench.
Now the pair are jostling with Brumbies hooker Folau Fainga'a to keep the self-confessed "old dog" of the Australian pack. Polota-Nau, back in Wallabies camp after a season with Leicester in the UK Premiership, says he could not be happier.
"I look back to when Tolu and I were in the Waratahs and I was saying 'mate I'm waiting for you to kick my butt out of here' and I feel like he's there," he said.
Warmed up: The hooker has returned from a heatwave in England where he’s been with the Leicester Tigers.
"It's his destiny if he really wants it. He's probably experienced what it takes and I really am in awe of the other hookers because seeing their form in Super Rugby has given me a big challenge to come back and see what they've got against me. If they get the No.2 jersey, they've earnt it."
Australian coach Michael Cheika will no doubt find it hard to look past Polota-Nau's experience at Test level and his recent spell in the Premiership with Leicester.
The former Waratahs and Two Blues hooker is back home for the Wallabies' Rugby Championship campaign, on loan from the Tigers and their Australian coach Matt O'Connor under World Rugby's Regulation 9.
To ensure he was in top shape, Polota-Nau made the most of the Tigers' preseason and believes record-high summer temperatures will have helped his cause. The squad trained in conditions averaging 33 degrees and Polota-Nau sought out extra contact work with his homecoming in mind.
"I've never trained with so many guys who turned pink so abruptly," he said.
A 36-strong Wallabies squad trained up at Cessnock in the Hunter region on Monday, reunited with their Waratahs team mates.
Cheika will cut the group back to just 28 on Sunday ahead of the opening Bledisloe Cup Test at ANZ Stadium on August 18.
Polota-Nau was in the starting front row that beat the All Blacks 23-18 in Brisbane last October and believes this group has what it takes to win in Sydney next week, as long as they stick to a game plan.
Incumbent: Brandon Paenga-Amosa has been in favour with Michael Cheika so far this season.
"The game plan's set here and we've just got to trust ourselves and each other to stick to it for the 80 minutes," he said. "As cliche as it sounds, that's probably been the most inconsistent thing I've found in my career, to stick to a structure for the whole 80 minutes. There's times when you isolate yourself because you've made a mistake and you're dwelling on that as opposed to forgetting it and moving on."
The Wallabies most consistent performance since that evening was again in Brisbane, but against Ireland in the opening Test in June. There Australia dictated terms and used their big forward pack to get a roll on over the visitors, never letting them into the game. Polota-Nau was enjoying a European summer break but watched keenly from afar.
"We showed that in patches in the June series against Ireland," Polota-Nau said. "Obviously it started really well [in the first Test] and I don't know what it's down to – but lapses in concentration just mentally. But [not] sticking to the structure has been our biggest inconsistency. It's great that the young boys are really pushing that as opposed to the wiser guys in the squad, because I feel like if they can voice it our it speaks volumes in terms of us as a whole squad being on the same page."
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