ACT Brumbies hooker Lachlan Lonergan living out his dream with Wallabies match-winner

The ones Ryan Lonergan built out of old flooring he found laying around the family's Williamsdale property when he and his brother were kids. That's where these dreams started, you know, the ones when you're pretending to be your favourite player, scoring the match-winning try for Australia.

Lachlan Lonergan was always Stirling Mortlock, scoring under the posts which felt a world away from the ones planted at each end of a full house in Cardiff.

But he needn't dream anymore. He's lived it.

One try doesn't pay for a contract, but the fact it was Lonergan swooping when Australia needed it most is further validation in the investment made by Rugby Australia and the ACT Brumbies, who have signed the 23-year-old until the end of 2025 with an eye on keeping their best young talent at home for a British and Irish Lions series.

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The reserve hooker's late try was the difference in the Wallabies' chaotic win over Wales, in which they overturned a 21-point deficit during the final 23 minutes on Sunday morning [AEDT].

The Wallabies were staring down the barrel of their worst calendar year since 1958 and a fourth consecutive defeat which would have closed out their spring tour with a whimper as they trailed 34-13, before rallying to pull off one of Australian rugby's finest comebacks.

Lonergan picked up a loose ball on the wing and darted over to give Australia the lead in the dying minutes - but he feared he'd gone from hero to zero in an instant when he conceded a penalty for being off his feet and giving Wales one last chance.

He then won the ball back at a breakdown and sent it over the touchline to secure a famous win for a squad counting the cost of a nightmare injury toll.

"We were in the trenches there in the first half. At half-time we came together and said 'we need to get a result'," Lonergan said.

"Obviously our captain [James Slipper] went down with that head knock. So as a team, we said we had to do it for him, our country, do it for Australia."

Lonergan delivered after replacing Folau Fainga'a, who is a Brumby no more, bound for the Western Force when he lands back on these shores following the spring tour. He is the most experienced hooker the ACT had their disposal during selection meetings, but even Fainga'a admits there were times he left plenty to be desired.

Something had to give in the Brumbies' hooker ranks, because four Test-capped teammates would not fit into two jerseys on game day. Former coach Dan McKellar was forced to balance the aspirations - and frustrations - of Fainga'a, Lonergan, Connal McInerney and Billy Pollard in one Super Rugby squad.

In McInerney, they have a reliable No. 2 who scored a match-winning try on Test debut in Oita, desperate to put a string of niggling injuries behind him. Pollard is a rising star who was courted by rugby league super coaches Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy, before committing to rugby union and quickly piecing together an impressive highlight reel. Then there is Lonergan, the dreamer, the match-winner.

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