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Cape Town - Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika has expressed his delight after a much improved start to the Super Rugby season for Australian teams.
The four Australian franchises have 11 wins between them after five rounds, nearly double the tally at the same stage last year and with one less team to boot.
Cheika singled out the Reds as particularly impressive, who in their last four matches have beaten the Brumbies, Bulls and Jaguares before claiming a losing bonus-point away against the Stormers in Cape Town last Saturday.
“I think they’ve all been showing different qualities of their own and a fair bit of resilience in some of their battles,” Cheika told the Australian Associated Press.
“Teams have already shown comebacks from difficult situations or overcoming some logistical battles, like we’ve seen the Reds do over this last little bit.
“We’re getting some wins on the board and I think some of the players are standing up and putting their name up there,” he added.
“From a selection point of view, (they) are probably not the traditional ones we’ve seen before. I’m keeping a list turning around, of what we see as maybe that top 45 and there’s a few players started to move in there that have not been in our reckoning before."
The Wallabies will test their mettle against Six Nations Grand Slam champions Ireland in a three-Test series on Australian soil beginning June 9.
