It is a measure of the significant progress the Wallabies have made in eight months under coach Joe Schmidt that Rob Valetini was still ruing the narrow three-point defeat against the second-best ranked team in the world an hour after the final whistle in Dublin.

Valetini, in tandem with the outstanding Fraser McReight created havoc for Ireland’s world-class back row and laid down a significant marker ahead of next year’s British and Irish Lions series. But none of this mattered to the Brumbies’ breakaway who was still reflecting on the last eighteen minutes of the game, and his side’s inability to defend a four-point lead.

“That’s probably just the mindset shift of the team where if you’re up by four (points), you still got to attack the game,” Valetini said.

“It’s like a fear of losing or something like that, but just being able to go out there and sort of attack the game, and you still got to play rugby, especially in tight games, and against quality sides, like the Irish as well.

“So I felt like when we were able to play our game, we put them on the back heel, and I thought probably towards the end we probably got a bit scared of making mistakes and I think if we just played our game, it could have been a different outcome maybe, but who knows?”

After missing last Sunday’s 14-point defeat against Scotland, McReight’s outstanding performance against Ireland was one of his best in a Wallabies’ jersey.

McReight completed four turnovers and made 21 tackles, missing none and also provided an attacking threat with the ball in hand. Valetini has the perfect view of what the Reds breakaway brings to the Wallabies and wasn’t surprised by his teammate’s performance against Ireland.

“Yeah, that’s classic Fraser, always everywhere and always willing to put his head in dark places, which is probably something that I love the most about him,” Valetini said.