It was only months ago the Australian public was loudly declaring rugby was back. Four months on and the Wallabies are now facing their worst end-of-year tour in almost 70 years. Just how did it come to this?
Pulling off a miraculous comeback win to stun the Springboks 38-22, ending a 62-year winless run at altitude to open their Rugby Championship campaign, the Wallabies were officially "back" according to fans and media outlets in August.
It's a far cry from what was witnessed last Sunday morning [AEDT] when the Wallabies came unstuck and capitulated to Italy in their second straight loss to the Azzurri in three years. In 2022, it cost then-coach Dave Rennie his job, this time it could condemn the Wallabies to become the first touring Australian team to lose all four Tests in a row in Europe since 1958.
While the Wallabies rallied hard, dug deep, and found strong leaders to overturn a 22-point deficit to down the Springboks in August, Sunday's performance saw none of the sort -- so too their ugly 25-7 loss to England and 28-14 humiliation to the All Blacks in Perth. Even their 19-15 win over Japan three weeks ago was hardly inspiring -- mass changes will easily excuse away the issues.
At no stage on Sunday morning did the Wallabies look truly in control of the contest. While Carter Gordon didn't look out of depth for a player playing his first minutes after only returning to the code a month ago, he was hardly helped by a forward pack whose contact work was well below par, and so the attack never had a chance to really fly.
It was easily one of their worst performances, if not the worst of the Joe Schmidt era, an assessment former Wallabies centre Morgan Turunui made earlier this week for Stan Sport.
It wasn't hard to see what went wrong for Australia in Udine. Their breakdown was woeful, players either missing in action or often arriving too late -- Harry Wilson one of the biggest culprits -- while the Wallabies' discipline remains their biggest issues, conceding 13 penalties, including a yellow card, many of which came within the opening stanza, opening the door for their opposition to remain in the contest.
Since Australia's tour of South Africa where they were lauded for their discipline -- they conceded 10 penalties across two Tests -- it has since fallen off a cliff. Fourteen penalties in Sydney, 15 in Auckland, 14 in Perth and 13 in London -- you'll be hard pressed to find any Test side that can win consistently with penalty counts this high.
While Schmidt and pundits used the north-south hemisphere divide to explain away their disciplinary issues during the Rugby Championship, it's clear the messaging hasn't sunk in for the team.
England coach Steve Borthwick wasn't wrong in pointing out the Wallabies' poor discipline around the ruck ahead of their clash in Twickenham two weeks ago and pinpointing Wilson's many side entry errors over the season -- labelling it "illegal tactics" perhaps taking it too far -- but Australia's many ruck penalties in London proved him right, with Wilson yet again front and centre.
Add too their toothless attack and 16 turnovers and it was no surprise the Wallabies faltered against Italy.
As their discipline has deteriorated, their ball retention has followed suit with turnover rates also reaching new highs. Averaging 12 turnovers per game through the Lions series and South Africa tour, that figure has since swelled to 15 per game as they cough up ball and opportunities at a higher rate.
It's seen questions of fatigue brought to the surface. Thirteen Tests across six months -- 15 by the end of November -- is a hard task mentally and physically, and while signs of fatigue were witnessed over the last two matches, it's an argument that should be questioned with only Jeremy Williams and Billy Pollard featuring in all 13 Tests -- Pollard starting eight times, Williams six -- while Fraser McReight remains the standout performer for the side despite starting and playing 80-minute games in his 12 Tests this year, sitting out just the Japan clash.
Perhaps mental fatigue has been the bigger factor in the Wallabies slow demise with James O'Connor telling the Good, the Bad and the Rugby podcast last week that players will always eventually plateau.
"This has been a big year for Aussie rugby, for all the men in the squad, all 35-40 of us," O'Connor said. "Going through the British and Irish Lions is already a huge emotional toll, a week later we play in South Africa, play two huge Tests there, there's been a lot of rugby played this year.
"At some stage you can't keep going like that [up], you've got to plateau it and then I think that's where the balance of picking your squad comes in.
"It's hard to keep guys firing. I remember what it was like when I was 25-27, when you're trying to play week-in, week-out, you just don't have the runs on the board to be able to do it.. but the emotional toll it takes, especially on a younger player, I think we're forgetting that."
Either way, the Wallabies have clearly fallen off a cliff since their highs of the South Africa tour. They have gone backwards, returning to some of their bad old habits, suffering five defeats in six Tests, with a record of just five wins from 13 overall this year, as a result.
The constant No. 10 question has, of course, not been without its impact. From Noah Lolesio to start the season to Gordon against Italy, the Wallabies have rolled through five fly-halves in 2025 alone with Tom Lynagh, Tane Edmed, and O'Connor also having worn the gold No.10. Clearly unearthing the playmaker for the future has come at a cost for this Wallabies group.
And unfortunately for the Wallabies it doesn't get any easier from here. Two world heavyweights lie in wait for the closing Tests of the year in Ireland and France. While focus on recent weeks has centred on the side's need to rise into the top six on the world rankings ahead of the 2027 World Cup draw, perhaps more important now is simply claiming a solitary victory to avoid unwanted history and send Joe Schmidt out on a high.
But perhaps nothing screams the inconsistencies of Australian rugby more than a Wallabies side ending a 62-year-drought in South Africa, only to finish the year as the worst Europe touring group in 68 years.