For a moment in Cape Town, it looked as though it could be 1984 all over again. No, not a dystopian story of surveillance and totalitarianism, but something just as menacing: a pushover try.

It remains one of the Wallabies’ most famous tries, and came on a grey afternoon 41 years ago when the Australian side turned up to Cardiff Arms Park and belted the mighty Wales side 28-9. In the 63rd minute, the unfancied Wallabies pack even humbled the powerhouse Welsh scrum by shoving them backwards for five metres and scoring.

“It was like, ‘Holy heck, this doesn’t happen’,” star Mark Ella recounted last year. “We’re from Australia.”

The Wallabies went onto complete the grand slam in 1984, kick-starting a successful two decades for Australian rugby. Colleague Peter FitzSimons argued at the weekend that the Wallabies’ win at Ellis Park was the equivalent of that grand slam triumph – a success of such magnitude it suddenly opened the eyes of a team to their true ceiling. An intravenous shot of confidence and belief.

And just as their forebears removed all doubt by taking Wales on – and down – through their famous scrum in 1984, for a moment it looked like the 2025 Wallabies had done the same to the Springboks in Cape Town. In the 68th minute, the Wallabies were trailing by six points and won a penalty. They kicked to the corner, and unlike the first Test win where tries came via flair and running play, this time the Wallabies went route one.

The Wallabies’ grand slam squad, ahead of their final clash against the Barbarians.Credit: Getty........

© The Sydney Morning Herald