After all those unsung years burrowing down darkly in the middle of some horrible, hairy front rows, Matt Faessler had to think long and hard when asked how many try-scoring hat-tricks he had ever pulled off before.
“The dramatic pause probably means none,” the Wallabies’ happy hooker smiled eventually.
“No, don't think I’ve ever scored one. At any level. Front-rowers don’t score tries - and I’ve always been in the front row … well close to it.
“Maybe when I was, like, 14, I might have dabbled in the back row a little bit, but I've sort of been chained to the front for quite a bit of time.”
Which all made Faessler’s escape from that chain gang, into the light and into the rugby history books one of the more delightful tales on a delightful day for Australia in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Sunday.
For the man from Toowoomba didn’t just land his own maiden hat-trick in the 52-20 dismantling of Wales; he also became the first Wallaby hooker to even score one try in a Test.
That was another piece of Australian rugby history for his family, 90 years since Faessler’s late granddad, a colourful character called Vince Bermingham, was part of the first Wallabies team to win the Bledisloe Cup.
And while it may have been fullback Tom Wright’s razzle-dazzle try treble that won man-of-the-match laurels in Cardiff, it was Faessler’s rumblling tail-gunner snipes off the base of fiery rolling mauls that helped make the win such a satisfying mix of power and panache.
“A complete, total performance,” Michael Hooper hailed it from the TV commentary box, and the modest Faessler was certainly not about to take any personal credit for his own landmark day.
No, not even for the thundering last of the three tries when he peeled off the maul and took two defenders with him as he crashed over.
“Mauls are team tries, and it's about everyone playing their role in that. I guess just the hooker gets the benefit more times than not, if the maul's functioning well,” shrugged the 25-year-old.
What satisfied him was how, four months since the Wallabies’ struggles against the Welsh in the mauls and line-outs in the July Tests, they so completely turned the tables.
“We were pretty focused this week on having a crack at them at maul time, both in attack and D(efence), and I think we probably did that.”
The mauls proved decisive when the Wallabies were down to 14 men after Samu Kerevi’s red card just after half-time, and they felt the tactic might be the best way of running the clock down until he returned.
Instead, Faessler’s quick double strike effectively killed off Welsh hopes.
His triumph marked the culmination of a remarkable two-year rise for the Queenslander.
Faessler didn’t even have a Super Rugby deal at the start of 2022, so moved to Sydney, played club rugby at Randwick and was then snaffled by the Reds as injury cover, only to impress to such an extent that Eddie Jones and the Wallabies eventually came calling.
Now, he really looks the part, even if he admits to still being “massively nervous” before every Test. Especially in Cardiff.
“I don't think you're ever really comfortable at Test level, like you're still running out with big metal butterflies flying around in your stomach," he said.
“And how vocal their (Welsh) crowd is. I heard a lot about this stadium and, yeah, it definitely delivered ... the choirs while you're warming up, the (regimental mascot) goat walking around, which is a bit of a weird one, and then just their national anthem.
“Oh yeah, I was in awe, a crazy experience. I’m really lucky to be part of it.”
