TOUGH backrower Sean McMahon has praised the Wallabies’ mental fortitude as they head to Ireland seeking to win their fourth straight Test and set up a Grand Slam decider in England.

McMahon was a standout as Australia defeated France 25-23 in a thriller in Paris, and said the squad had galvanised after enduring a number of tough losses earlier this year.

“As a team when you’re in a losing locker room and you all sit down and you start thinking about how much it hurts, I think we’ve just built throughout the year and said �?That’s it, it’s time for us to step up and it’s all about battling to the very end’, so we’ve finally bought into that and we’re all fighting,” McMahon said.

“We don’t care what the score limit is, we’re just having a crack and not stopping.”

If Australia can defeat Ireland, they will head to London knowing victory over England would deliver them their first Grand Slam since 1984.

Ironically, it was England’s historic 3-0 series win against the Wallabies in Australia earlier this year that sparked McMahon’s fire to turn the tide.

“Personally myself it would have been after the England series and I think all the boys probably — I can’t speak for them — but I think we all had to pull through as team and come together and get tight,” McMahon said after victory in Paris.

“When you go into the locker room after a win like that when every bloke has had a crack right to the very end, you look at that last minute of play, all the boys were trying to be disciplined and just get the ball back and work so hard.

“You look at [halfback] Nick Phipps, come on down the end and he just puts an absolute sprinting effort in to put that last charge down [attempt of Camille Lopez’ missed field goal after fulltime].

“He might not have got it but it still put pressure on and that’s what we want in this team — everyone just having that last minute effort to do whatever they can to take a win.”