Australia play it cool as their Iceman readies for Welsh wave

London rush hour, Monday morning. As London bustles, the Wallabies step softly into their working week which, for Bernard Foley and a handful of his mates, started with an early, low-key chat with the press at their Westminster team base.

Theirs was a better weekend than most of those filing through the Tube or filling the iconic red double-decker buses, though the worth of their win over the hosts on Saturday was diluted by the fact that the major Australian news outlets refused to send reporters to the UK to cover the event. Not ideal in the daily battle for hearts and minds.

A dispute over the small print in the tournament’s official media accreditation agreement saw to that, but the handful of London-based Aussies journalists present still need to file their copy before the end of business back home so that means sleepy breakfast briefings in the team hotel. Maybe it’s the hour or the glow of that win against England, but it’s all so civil, the bonhomie unbroken even by the English journalist inevitably asking for opinions on Stuart Lancaster’s future, or even by the news of Michael Hooper’s citing that wouldn’t break until later in the morning.