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'We're coming to take the reins': Teen young gun Moleka warns experienced Wallaroos teammates

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Wallaroos flyhalf Faitala Moleka has sounded a warning to her teammates, the next generation of talent is coming and they're ready to take over the squad.

At the reins of the Wallaroos' comprehensive 37-5 victory over Wales on Saturday -- just the side's second win of the year -- Moleka led Australiawith aplomb, while she showed a maturity beyond her years and was awarded for her efforts with the Player of the Match trophy following her impressive display.

It's been a long time coming, not just for the 19-year-old, but for a Wallaroos side who've struggled to find results under new coach Jo Yapp who took over earlier this year.

Soundly beaten by long-time rivals the Black Ferns and relegated to WXV2 after they failed to win a match in the PAC4 competition, the Wallaroos went on a two-week British Isles tour where they fell 36-10 to Ireland, before they then suffered a first ever loss to Wales.

Just a week later they turned the tide with their forward pack finding front foot momentum that had eluded them so far this season, while their set-piece started to fire, and their star backline was able to pierce the defence and find the line five times through the match with prop Eva Karpani barging over for one of her own as well.

Moleka pulled the strings for many of the point scoring opportunities, sending neat offloads, helping her teammates through gaps and slicing through for her own score in the second half, while young gun Caitlyn Halse also proved herself a star of the future in her strong display.

"Not gonna lie, I would say we're coming to take the reins, but don't tell the older girls, they might get a little, I might get told off, but I agree, we're coming. We're coming for you," Moleka joked after ESPN asked if the youth were starting to make their mark on the Wallaroos.

"But yeah, the experience from the big girls, they really instill the confidence in us younger girls like Caitlyn Halse, Ruby Anderson, myself and even Boo [Tabua Tuinakauvadra] as well, to really step out of our comfort zones and really own the roles that we're given.

"It's a thought that's up in my mind [playing No.10 at the World Cup], but at the moment I'm kind of just taking things game by game, so hopefully this week, with the performance I had last week, I get another chance to showcase what I can do. But we have amazing talent in the 10s like Arabella Mackenzie, so it's good healthy competition having her by my side."

It was the third time Moleka had taken on the starting flyhalf role this tour with the teenager given the reins for the opening two Tests before she was elevated to the position again after Bella McKenzie was a late scratching with a head knock. The late change clearly didn't phase her with the playmaker crediting her earlier experience with developing her confidence in the role.

"It was a like long time coming for me [her performance], I reckon. I think I worked really hard, not just me, but the girls as well to get a win like that and to get a result as well as that. I think it was a long time coming, not just for me but for the girls as well.

"I think those two games really instilled a lot of confidence in me. I'm still young, so just getting that experience of actually starting on the international stage, just having those games to really build up my confidence and then come into that game and having a performance like that, I think those two games really helped me.

"[We had a] quote of the week, 'No more Mr. Nice guy', so funny enough, I wrote it on my wrist tape on the weekend, just as like, a reminder to just have confidence and just play how I normally play with fun, with a smile and just being able to transfer the knowledge that I know that I have and like give it out to the girls and not hesitating, I guess was what the quote of the week kind of meant to me.

"I wasn't really expecting to get the award, to get the player of the match. I just went into the game with that winning mindset, being positive, being confident in my own ability, so having that on top is, yeah, it's a cherry on top for that win."

For many of the Wallaroos squad the six-week tour is the longest they've ever undertaken and for many more it's the first time they've been to South Africa, where they will play out the remaining WXV2 series against the tournament hosts and Scotland. After two early tour loses, Moleka credited the team's faith in the coaching team for their swift turnaround.

"I think a big one for us girls, including myself, was to really trust the process," Moleka told media. "We've got a new coach this year, got a whole new team, so just trusting the process and trusting our game plan, trusting in our coaches and players to really be patient and play the game that we want to play.

"Those tough losses, I think as a team we took it really well and we took it with a lot of learnings and a lot of lessons, so taking those and carrying it on to the next week just showed how much resilience our team has.

"Personally, I love it here [South Africa]. This is my first time here. I love this place. It's amazing. But also, just trying not to get distracted by how beautiful this place is. It's new, it's different, but we all still got the same job and the same goal that we want to achieve."