What Will the Wallabies Look Like in 12 Months' Time?

If any rugby-playing nation has proved how fast your fortunes can change it is Australia.

At the end of 2014 they had crashed to a first defeat to Argentina, their coach had been jettisoned and one of their star players was the subject of a serious breach of squad discipline.

At the end of 2015 they are second in the world, reigning Rugby Championship winners and World Cup runners-up.

It rather makes a fool’s errand of the task of predicting where they will be a year from now.

But we can, at least, make a decent fist of assessing the personnel they may be using as they arrive back in Europe for their 2016 autumn tour schedule.

The pack

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

The improvement in the Wallaby scrum was one of the most eye-catching features of their World Cup campaign, so it is unlikely that Michael Cheika and his set-piece expert Mario Ledesma would make wholesale changes to the players responsible for the upgrade.

Hooker Stephen Moore is 32 and the incumbent captain, and he has thrived under Cheika’s coaching. He passed the 100-cap mark during the 2015 World Cup but has given no hint that he is ready to step down.

With the explosive impact of Tatafu Polota-Nau evident when he came off the bench for Moore during the tournament, Cheika may well see this double act as the best way to service the hooking duties in the medium to long term.

One area Moore and his understudy need to improve is the lineout, which faltered too often against New Zealand in the final.

Either side of Moore, Scott Sio and Sekope Kepu were arguably the props of the tournament. The loose head Sio gave Dan Cole and Samson Lee tough examinations during the pool stages and when he was missing against Argentina in the semi-final, the Wallabies pack struggled without him.

With only 16 caps and at 24 years old, Sio is certain to enjoy a long international career if he can stay fit. On the tight head, Sekope Kepu may just be reaching his prime at 29.

He showed against Joe Marler that he can attack and destabilize a scrum with his power. He has signed for Bordeaux-Begles in the Top 15, per Sky Sports. However, he passed the required 60-cap mark during the tournament that allows him to be picked as an overseas player under the new rules introduced this year by the Australian Rugby Union, now dubbed "Giteau’s Law."

Pencil him in for the autumn as long as his club are happy for him to take the time off.

At lock, Australia went to great lengths to bring Kane Douglas back from Leinster to make the squad, and his injury-enforced departure early in the final was a blow.

His partnership with Rob Simmons has the potential to last many a year, with both men still only 26. It’s not an area the Wallabies are low on stocks in either with Dean Mumm and Will Skelton able deputies.

Behind them, the trio of David Pocock, Michael Hooper and Scott Fardy was one of the most formidable outfits at the World Cup, and Cheika will not want to break them up. Pocock is already in the sights of his current Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham who wants to tie him to a new contract, per the Canberra Times.

Fardy may be most at risk for his place as the only man of the three on the wrong side of 30, but he grew in influence throughout the World Cup and will take some shifting from his nearest challengers.

Sean McMahon is the young buck breathing down Hooper’s neck for the No. 7 jersey, and he will need a strong Super Rugby campaign in 2016 to unseat the vice-captain. Liam Gill of the Reds was overlooked in favour of McMahon for the World Cup squad, and he may be another to come back into the frame.

Half-backs

Will Genia was given the job as first choice No. 9 for the World Cup, but the 27-year-old is joining Stade Francais now and, despite the new Australian rules concerning selection of overseas players, it’s hard to see Genia being retained, with Nick Phipps looking the man to succeed the 66-cap veteran.

Fly-half Bernard Foley marked himself out as one of the world’s best goal-kickers during the tournament, and now heads to Japan for a short, lucrative stint there before Super Rugby gets back under way.

The 26-year-old is not the only one, with Israel Folau also taking advantage of the ARU’s flexible stance on players taking such deals.

Foley’s main rival for the No. 10 jersey, Quade Cooper, is now in Toulon and, while still available to the Wallabies, has his sights firmly set on the Olympic Sevens tournament in Rio next year.

If the toll of non-stop rugby does not take too much out of Foley expect him to be revisiting Twickenham, the scene of his two-try demolition of England, next November.

Midfield

It gets tricky here for Michael Cheika. Matt Giteau is gone for good this time, you suspect, and there is a gaggle of contenders for his No. 12 shirt.

Matt Toomua is perhaps best placed at present, with Christian Lealiifano also an option there. Tevita Kuridrani has been hard to shift from the outside-centre berth, and was the man who came up with the goods in clutch moments during the World Cup, scoring against Scotland and the All Blacks in the final. He is yet to reach 25 years old.

Back three

Adam Ashley-Cooper has over 100 caps and has given no signal that the 2015 final was his last international, despite heading for Bordeaux-Begles.

But he and Drew Mitchell are both now into their 30s and unlikely to be ripping up defences come Japan 2019. And so Michael Cheika could look to the future in the wing positions.

Rob Horne began the World Cup in front of Toulon man Mitchell but was injured against England and lost his place. Alongside Horne, Joe Tomane is a powerhouse who may now get his chance to start, but Henry Speight is cut from similar cloth and could force his way in with another strong Super Rugby campaign.

There seems little doubt that Israel Folau will remain the first choice at full-back, although Kurtley Beale proved how dangerous he can be every time he filled in for the former rugby league man.