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AFTER just 13 Tests at the Wallabies' helm, Ewen McKenzie can this weekend notch a milestone Robbie Deans could not pull off in 74 - six straight victories.
Defeating France in the second Test in Melbourne would not only secure a piece of silverware for the Wallabies, it would have the added boost of an Australian side piecing together half-a-dozen Test wins for the first time since 2005.
Deans won his first five Tests with the Wallabies in 2008 but then, sitting in the front seat of the win-loss roller coaster, never steered the team past three straight wins again in six years.
McKenzie's men have the opportunity to do it less than a year into the post-Deans era, and though some may interpret the ticking of such boxes as misapplied focus, the new coach believes history can be a valuable motivational tool.
"In teams I have been involved with I have always kept them focused on small goals; it's not just about winning, if there some historical relevance or an opportunity to grab some history along the way, then we'll try and do that," McKenzie said.
"You have get the context right for the team, and the context of what they're playing for. It's not just another game.
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"Five in a row has some context in terms of making the team feeling a little bit more special ... that they're doing something that's not done easily. It's all part of the progress. You can't find little goals on and off the field to demonstrate to the team they're actually making progress. It all helps."
Under Eddie Jones, the Wallabies won six straight until the 2003 World Cup final, and then again in 2004-05, although the sequence was immediately followed by a seven-game losing streak that ultimately cost Jones his job.
To break the next target - ten straight wins in 1999-2000 - McKenzie's Wallabies would have to emulate that golden-era side and win the Bledisloe Cup this year.
After arriving in Melbourne on Wednesday, Wallabies centre Adam Ashley-Cooper said the French series was an important platform to do just that.
"We are using the French campaign as a stepping block to start off a new era in Australian rugby, and to reach our first Bledisloe," he said.
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"It is important to share moments like that (five straight wins in Brisbane), it boosts the motivation to turn up for the weekend. It gives you food for thought. There are little achievements like that that are up for grabs."
After a wobbly opening period, McKenzie's recent record as coach is all the more impressive given the revitalised attacking style that's achieved it.
In the last eight Tests, the Wallabies have scored an average of 35 points - and 4.5 tries - per Test.
Foxsports Stats show the last ten Tests under McKenzie have seen the Wallabies (31) double their points output from Deans' last ten Tests (15.5), which ended against the Lions last July.
Long forgotten, it seems, is the one-try per Test malaise of the Wallabies during 2012.
The French were blown off the park in Brisbane by the Wallabies' high-tempo attack, and though they expect a stifling strategy by Les Bleus on Saturday, Ashley-Cooper said the Australians would not get bogged down in a dour arm-wrestle.
"We have to be more physical and more determined. They will look at our attack and know that a lot of our shape is built off momentum, and off the mainline," Ashley-Cooper said.
"They will certainly be a nuisance at the breakdown and look to slow our ball down. For us it is about stepping up physically and matching that. We want to play with the tempo we did last week, and play that expansive game."
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