When Australia were crushed 50-21 by New Zealand in July, all eyes suddenly turned to injured centre Stirling Mortlock.

The Wallabies realised then that they desperately needed an outside centre to provide them with the power and strength to match the All Blacks.

Mortlock was the obvious solution, but the problem was that he was bailed up in hospital recovering from shoulder surgery.

No one knew for certain whether he would make it back for the World Cup and his rehabilitation became a matter of national urgency.

No longer just a promising player, Mortlock was now the saviour Australia needed, but time was running out.

He missed the entire international season and played just one local club match before being selected on faith for the World Cup.

He was not considered fit to play in the opening game against Argentina, but made his comeback against Romania off the bench, celebrating his recall with a try.

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The 26 year-old scored again in Australia's 142-0 rout of Namibia, but could not force his way into the starting team for the Wallabies' final pool game against Ireland.

But just when it seemed as though Australia were resigned to playing Mortlock off the bench, coach Eddie Jones gambled on his lack of match practice and threw him into the quarter-final against Scotland. The saviour delivered.

He scored a 60 metre try to break a 9-9 deadlock at half-time, which broke Scottish hearts, but it was his performance in Saturday's semi-final win over New Zealand which proved his greatest contribution.

Mortlock scored Australia's only try of the match, intercepting a looping pass from Carlos Spencer to sprint 80 metres and dive under the posts.

And he troubled the All Blacks defence all night long, repeatedly breaking through tackles with his powerful charges at the line, before limping off just before full-time, his job complete.

"Personally, the seven months has been a tough journey, but I definitely had a goal to make the team and it's taken me a while to do that," Mortlock said.

"When I didn't get selected, I was obviously a bit disappointed, but there's a lot of other guys who are in my shoes and I just waited for my chance.

"I'm happy to be back in the team and I'm keen for next week."

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Jones was full of praise for Mortlock, saying his comeback from injury was the stuff of legends.

"It would be hard [to find] any other person in a team from around the world who has done that," Jones said.

"What impressed me most about Stirling was when he was left out initially, how disappointed he was.

"That was a really good sign -- he was absolutely filthy -- and now he's shown the running skills that have made him such a good player."

Photograph: Getty Images