The Wallabies appear ready to fight fire with fire during their upcoming two-Test tour of South Africa if Wednesday's willing training session is anything to go by.
In a gruelling two hour session - their first since the mauling suffered at the hands of the All Blacks at Eden Park over a week ago - the players completed a number of high intensity tackling and clean-out drills.
While the bulk of the techniques practiced resembled routine rugby moves, a bizarre grapple-style manoeuvre more commonly seen in Greco-Roman wrestling and at times the NRL, caught the attention of the assembled media.
The high-intensity drill centres on nullifying the tackler's ability to pilfer the ball whilst on his feet at the breakdown by making contact close to the head-neck area and rapidly twisting the player onto his back.
But when asked if any of the techniques practiced during the session were new additions to the Wallabies' training regime, coach Robbie Deans explained: "No not really. We're just trying to get some repetition in and get them back in the saddle with contact - and they got that today."
"It's (the training track) quite a hard surface so there was a bit of bark lost and they'll be sore but it's a good sensation and that'll help them move on."
Meanwhile, Deans welcomed the challenge of ending the Wallabies' eight-year drought against the Springboks on South African soil with a win on the upcoming tour.
"Personally I think it's a great place to tour, it's a great country, it's a unique country, it's a rugby destination and obviously they're a rugby nation, they're very proud of what they do and hence they've got the history that they've got," Deans said.
"If you could generalise, and certainly if you go back 100 years, people would say 'well that's the place where you test yourself' because they're the original rugby nation."
"And for a rugby player and a rugby coach, there's nothing better than that."
Dual international Lote Tuqiri agreed that defeating the Springboks on home soil is among the greatest challenges in the game.
"They get big crowd support and it's very daunting going into a Test match over there," Tuqiri said.
"It's the same thing as Auckland I guess, it's just another ground but they really love getting into you over there, saying that they're the best and everything else."
"(But) it's fun, I really like the atmosphere that you go over there and play with and against."