Will Skelton’s desire to help Australia win their first Bledisloe Cup since 2002 was so significant that he contemplated arriving in Auckland at 3am two days before the Eden Park Test after flying for more than 24 hours from France.

Ultimately, after reviewing every feasible flight timetable, the La Rochelle second-rower had to accept that logistically it wasn’t possible to play at Eden Park, where the Wallabies came desperately close to ending their 39-year wait for a victory at the stadium before losing 33-24.

“It just happened that the Top 14 had scheduled the biggest game of the weekend, which was Toulon [against] La Rochelle at 9pm in Toulon [last Saturday],” Skelton said.

“We’d spoken about it during the South African week with [Wallabies coach] Joe [Schmidt] and the management t

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