James Horwill is backing embattled coach Ewen McKenzie to revive the Wallabies' flagging fortunes after their forgettable week in Argentina ended in ignominy.
Argentina's 21-17 victory in Mendoza consigned the Wallabies to a dubious place in history as the Pumas' first Rugby Championship scalp, and dropped McKenzie's success rate to 52 per cent from 21 Tests at the helm.
The Wallabies' preparations for the Pumas were beset by problems within their camp and McKenzie, acknowledging the buck stops with him, is under growing pressure to sort it all out before hosting the All Blacks in Brisbane on October 18.
The Wallabies are winless in six starts against the world champions under McKenzie, but Horwill believes his former Queensland Reds Super Rugby-winning mentor can turn things around quickly.
"I've got all confidence in Ewen and his whole coaching staff to have the ability to take this team forward to where we can be," Horwill said.
"We know we are a very good team when we put it all together.
"He's a very good coach and we've seen that; results don't lie.
"We need to keep working. It's never a finished product this group.
"I've learnt that over 10 years doing this. Things are thrown at you that are not always going to expect.
"International rugby is a tough thing. I hate to use a cliche, but it's a week by week proposition."
The veteran lock said the Wallabies were hurting over their performance against the Pumas.
"We're pretty angry as well about how we performed over here," Horwill said.
"The beauty is we get another opportunity the week after next to put in a better performance.
"It is in front of our home crowd, at Suncorp, a place where we love playing.
"So hopefully get a big parochial crowd and we can get stuck in."
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