There’s no margin for error in Pool C at the Rugby World Cup with defeat for either Wales or Australia in Sunday’s meeting at the OL Stadium in Lyon potentially ruinous (20:00 KO).
The Wallabies are in more danger than their opponents of a first pool-stage exit in their history following a first defeat to Fiji since 1954 in their last fixture.
Another loss for the two-time World Cup winners will effectively end their chances of reaching the quarter-finals and send Wales through.
Warren Gatland’s men are sitting pretty at the top of the section after two wins from two games but can’t afford to let up as a defeat this weekend will leave them relying on results elsewhere going their way to qualify.
- Wales to win
- Jordan Petaia anytime tryscorer
- Over 5.5 penalties scored
WATCH IN THE ZONE - JASON ROBINSON
Wallabies Heading For World Cup Disaster
It’s fair to say Eddie Jones’ second tenure as Australia coach hasn’t gone to plan so far with the Wallabies losing six of their first seven games under the former England boss.
Having been largely hammered during the summer, Australia hit a new low when they were upset by Fiji last weekend, a result which leaves them third in the pool, four points behind section leaders Wales.
They were well beaten by the Flying Fijians as their discipline deserted them. Australia’s tally of 18 penalties conceded was the joint-highest by any team at this World Cup as they undid all the hard work from a good bonus-point win over Georgia in their opening match.
Australia’s pack suffered without the injured Taniela Tupou and captain Will Skelton, both of whom will also miss the Wales game, while Jones’ decision to take one recognised fly-half to France has backfired.
Carter Gordon has struggled in the No. 10 jersey and Ben Donaldson, who has played five Tests to date, mainly at full-back, will switch to fly-half to replace him against Wales.
Australia appear in disarray and while this is far from a classic Wales team they are coming up against, Gatland’s side all know their jobs and can be tough to beat.
Gatland has recalled his big guns after the second string struggled to see off Portugal in the hope that they can seal a fourth win in their last five meetings with Australia.
Wales may be going through a period of transition, but there’s enough experience in their starting XV to get the job done and nudge the Aussies towards what would be an unthinkable pool-stage exit.
Petaia May Expose Wales Weakness
Not many of this Australian squad can be happy with how they’ve performed in France, but Jordan Petaia is one of a few players who can hold his head high.
The Queensland Reds back scored in Australia’s opening-weekend win over Georgia and ran hard against Fiji, albeit with limited success.
He has made the outside centre spot his own and it’s a position that has had great success punching holes in the Welsh defence recently.
In Wales’ last seven Test matches, they’ve conceded a try to the player in the 13 shirt in five of those games with Jesse Kriel bagging a brace when South Africa ran riot in Cardiff in the warm-up games.
Petaia had a good tryscoring season for the Reds in Super Rugby last year and offers some value to score on Sunday.
JORDAN PETAIA TO SCORE ANYTIME
Penalties Preferred In Nip-And-Tuck Encounter
Australia set the benchmark for penalties conceded at the World Cup when committing 18 infringements against Fiji, but that’s only one more than Wales gave away in their meeting with the Pacific nation.
Wales’ discipline deserted them as they hung on for victory against Fiji, and Australia may get a few opportunities to kick at goal.
In a game of this magnitude, building scoreboard pressure when you can will be vital and Wales will certainly be happy to take a shot at the sticks if offered.
Wales fly-half Dan Biggar split the uprights five times in seven attempts against Fiji in a fairly standard performance for the Toulon number ten, while Donaldson kicked well against Georgia and made six out of seven.
With two teams prone to getting on the wrong side of the referee, two decent goal-kickers and a pressure-cooker environment, expect plenty of successful penalties.
Wales vs Australia Teams
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Louis Rees Zammit, 13 George North, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Gareth Thomas
Bench: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dafydd Jenkins, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Rio Dyer
Australia: 15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 13 Jordan Petaia, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Ben Donaldson, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Tom Hooper, 6 Rob Leota, 5 Richie Arnold, 4 Nick Frost, 3 James Slipper, 2 David Porecki (c), 1 Angus Bell
Bench: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Pone Fa’amausili, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Fraser McReight, 21 Nic White, 22 Carter Gordon, 23 Suliasi Vunivalu
