Dave Rennie

RA chairman Hamish McLennan dropped a bombshell last week by reportedly telling Kiwi counterpart Stewart Mitchell that Australia would consider going it alone in Super Rugby from 2024 onwards.

McLennan said in a later interview that RA would fulfil its 2023 Super Rugby Pacific commitments but hinted an all-Australian competition could be launched after that, with a view to the Rugby World Cup in 2027.

Rennie is adamant the model that will benefit the Wallabies the most is the current one, in which Australian sides battle the might of New Zealand's best.

Australia's rebuilding New South Wales Waratahs stunned New Zealand powerhouse the Crusaders on Saturday, their first win over Kiwi opposition since 2019.

The ACT Brumbies were convincing winners over the Hurricanes on Sunday.

"The other sides all went close ... so it's good," Rennie said in Melbourne on Monday.

"I think we're certainly more competitive and teams can take a lot of confidence out of that.

Rennie, who himself conceded that his side had been far from their best in their 15-13 defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield on Monday morning (AEDT), did not sound overly happy to hear how Stan Sport pundit Mehrtens had stuck the boot into the disjointed Australian performance.

“I worry a little bit for the Wallabies, because if they keep muddling through like they have in these last two games (against Japan and now Scotland), if they play like that again they’ll get a heap put on them,” Mehrtens, the 70-times capped All Black noted.

Rennie gave Cooper a surprise call-up to the Wallabies squad ahead of their Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship campaigns last month after incumbent pivot James O’Connor suffered a groin complaint during Super Rugby Trans-Tasman.

Cooper hasn’t played for the Wallabies since 2017, and the 70-test veteran watched on from the stands as the Wallabies were defeated in successive tests in Auckland earlier this month as the All Blacks locked the Bledisloe Cup away for a 19th straight year.

Rennie will name his players next Sunday for the series, which opens in Sydney on July 7, with three Tests played in 11 days, and says there will be some changes to the 40-man training squad he named in March.

"We've got the spine of a team ... there's certainly positions that we're unsure of and the next couple of weeks are going to be important for those individuals," Rennie told Stan Sport.

After leaving out all three of the hookers he used in 2020, Rennie said the No.2 jersey still remained wide open, as did spots in the second row.

There are 14 uncapped players in the squad, including Australian Sevens representative Tim Anstee, former Junior Wallabies hooker Lachlan Lonergan and veteran David Porecki.

Reds off-season signing Suliasi Vunivalu has also earned selection in the Wallabies camp squad, following an impressive return to the 15-man game in Harvey Norman Super Rugby AU.

Western Force recruit Sitaleki Timani is set to return to the national fold after an eight year absence, with the 34-year-old named in a Wallabies squad for the first time since the 2013 Spring Tour.

The Melbourne Rebels flyer can command more than $1 million a year playing overseas and is expected to quit Australian rugby at the end of 2021 when his contract is up.

Rennie said he’d love to keep Koroibete, who had gone from strength to strength in the past 12 months and is now a global star.

“I agree, he’s been fantastic, phenomenal,” Rennie said.

“There’s been a couple of games he’s played this year where he’s been the best player on the field and you’ve only got to reflect back to the Bledisloe Cup game in Brisbane, he was sensational that day.

O'Connor – who suffered a torn MCL in the Wallabies' 27-7 loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park before suffering a plantar fascia injury – did not feature on Rennie's team list for the record breaking loss to New Zealand at ANZ Stadium, the upset win against the same opponents at Suncorp Stadium or the frustrating 15-all draw against the Pumas.

But O'Connor started his press conference on Monday by declaring he would be fit and ready to steer the Australians to a season ending win against Argentina at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium on Saturday.

Slipper started in all four Bledisloe Cup tests as coach Dave Rennie's first-choice loosehead prop, but the Brumbies star suffered a dislocated elbow late in the first half of the Wallabies' last-start 24-22 win over the All Blacks.

The painful injury created a two-man race for the No 1 jersey between Slipper's Brumbies team-mate Sio and one-cap Waratah Angus Bell.

Bell showed he is more than capable of making the step up to international rugby when he replaced Slipper at Suncorp Stadium, but Rennie has opted for the safety of 66-test prop Sio for the key Argentina clash.

The Wallabies came crashing back to earth after last week’s thrilling 16-16 draw in Wellington as the All Blacks piled on four tries to one in a 27-7 rebound rout in Auckland on Sunday.

In chalking up their 20th straight trans-Tasman victory at Eden Park since 1986, no All Black was more destructive in punishing the Wallabies for their defensive deficiencies than rookie winger Caleb Clarke.