Australia have had to overcome some trying circumstances to reach the Rugby World Cup semifinals and Michael Hooper says their victories over Wales and Scotland had a lot to do with coach Michael Cheika's brutal training regime.
While the Wallabies have tempered their approach to deal with the demands of tournament play, Cheika's early-season preparation -- as well as a two-week camp in the United States -- had a heavy conditioning component with the players sweating it out in some intense sessions.
The hard work certainly seems to have paid off though, with Australia surviving a seven-minute period against Wales where they had just 13 men on the field, and then escaping with a late penalty against Scotland after Vern Cotter's side looked to have scored a match-winning try with under five minutes to play.
"I think Cheik's had that mentality from word go that we want to be a physical team," Hooper said when asked about the Wallabies' endurance levels. "So we've trained like that day in, day out, ad nauseam sometimes, to the point where we're hardened for it, or ready for it, and we have to enjoy and it's part of our game.
"So yeah, this weekend we'll be looking to bring more of that for sure."
The added physical and mental toll of tournament play can prove difficult to manage with teams having to play six games in six weeks just to get to the final.
But Hooper said the Wallabies strength and conditioning staff had got things right on both fronts, the flanker confident mental and physical fatigue wouldn't be an issue in Sunday's semifinal with Argentina.
"We've been managed very well with the staff," he said. "I think guys can all say that they're, fatigue-wise, feeling pretty good.
"The training load has been adjusted to be appropriate according to the games on the weekend, allowing us to be in our best shape for the 80 minutes. The guys are doing well, guys are recovering well and it's an added emphasis because you want to be 100 percent on the weekend.
"Mentally, we're fantastic, we're so excited. It's not long now; it's like eight days to a final and two days to a semifinal, so we're fantastic.
"We've had big games all along and that's probably prepared us better than anything that it's nothing new for us; we've been playing knockout rugby the whole time as the boss has been saying. And it's probably put us in better stead than anything else."
Australia will be meeting Argentina for the second time this year with the Wallabies having recorded a comfortable 34-9 triumph in Mendoza during the Rugby Championship.
But the Pumas have made great strides since that match, concluding with last week's comprehensive 43-20 quarterfinal victory over Ireland.
"No, not really," Hooper replied when asked whether he was surprised by the Pumas' improvement.
"We know they're very strong attacking and extremely passionate nation that bring it to you on the field physically. So, no, no surprise that they're here; no surprise that they were here in this situation [eight] years ago.
"So it's going to be a tough game but you don't know too much until you actually play them. Teams are always adapting going into games and they'll see opportunities in us which they'll try and exploit."