Welsh win must be Wallabies' benchmark
Lock Dean Mumm says Saturday's crushing win over Wales at Millennium Stadium must be the new benchmark for the Jekyll and Hyde Wallabies.
Australia finished an up and down season in style with a 33-12 rout of the 2008 Six Nations champions, the victory the Wallabies' biggest over Wales in Cardiff since the triumphant 1991 World Cup campaign.
Delighted coach Robbie Deans praised Mumm for his role in captaining the Wallabies' mid-week side to a rousing 31-3 victory over Cardiff last Tuesday, the four-try romp lifting the gloom in the Australian camp after the sobering loss to Scotland.
"It's been a great week for us as a touring party and it's a wonderful feeling to go into the summer with a little bit of positivity," said Mumm, who was also outstanding in his first Test start of the tour against Wales.
"Obviously I'm very, very proud with how the team went on Tuesday night. It went some way to eradicating some of the hurt from last weekend.
"It's wonderful to be proud of a performance and I think we can be proud of this performance against Wales.
"It's probably been a little while since we could say that."
Desperate in defence and finally on song in attack, the Wallabies restored pride in the gold jumper with a dominant display under the closed roof at Millennium Stadium.
"The key is, once you get it back, to maintain it," Mumm said.
"There's been moments this year where we've maybe struggled with that and the way forward for us is to be very proud of what we do and who we represent.
"I mean, if you don't set this as a benchmark, then you're going to go backwards and we certainly don't want to go there.
"There have been times, to be brutally honest, where our performances haven't been acceptable.
"Last weekend was a case."
The Wallabies ended 2009 with a record of six wins, a draw and seven losses, with six of the defeats coming at the hands of the top-ranked New Zealanders and world and Tri-Nations champions South Africa.
The 9-8 loss to Scotland was Australia's only slip-up on the six-match, four-Test grand slam tour, while the Wallabies' 20-20 draw in Dublin was as close as Ireland's reigning Six Nations champions came to defeat in 2009.
Halfback Will Genia, five-eighth Matt Giteau, back-rowers David Pocock, Wycliff Palu and captain Rocky Elsom plus prop Benn Robinson were the standouts of the tour.
Genia rated Australia's shutout of Wales the season highlight for the Wallabies, ahead of the 21-6 spanking of the Springboks in Brisbane in September.
"We were under a lot of criticism and fire from guys back home and I think the important thing for us during the week is that we didn't let it get to us," he said.
"To come home so strongly, score four tries and play for the full 80 minutes, it's a great dressing room."
While the bulk of the squad will head back to Australia on Sunday, Genia, Giteau, Elsom, Drew Mitchell, George Smith and Stephen Moore will stay on to represent the Barbarians against the All Blacks on Saturday at Twickenham.
Teenage five-eighth Matt Toomua will join his parents on holiday in Hawaii as he recovers from surgery he underwent last week after breaking his jaw against Cardiff.
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