Australian rugby heads into the Christmas break with a rare bout of festive cheer after the Wallabies made great strides on their Northern Hemisphere tour. Gloomy predictions of a wipe-out against the home nations proved well wide of the mark as Joe Schmidt's side claimed a rousing win over England at Twickenham and thumped woeful Wales a week later.

Coach Joe Schmidt is urging one final flourish from his flowering Wallabies on their northern tour to provide the sunlight that will help Australian rugby survive and thrive.

Joe Schmidt doesn’t feel his Australian side is ready to live with the British and Irish Lions just yet. But this Wallaby performance in pushing Ireland to the pin of their collar on Saturday afternoon,