Australia vs Wales RWC Pool A 10th October

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AUSTRALIA v WALES
10 October 2015
KO: 16:45
Twickenham, London

Live on [tbc]

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Jérôme Garcès (France) & Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

A. Head to Head

38 Played 38
27 Won 10
1 Drawn 1
10 Lost 27
897 Points 590

B. Recent Form

8 November 2014
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
28 – 33 Australia

30 November 2013
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
26 – 30 Australia

1 December 2012
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
12 – 14 Australia

23 June 2012
Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20 – 19 Australia

16 June 2012
Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
25 – 23 Australia

9 June 2012
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
27 – 19 Australia

3 December 2011
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
18 – 24 Australia

21 October 2011
Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
21 – 18 Australia

TEAMS:

AUSTRALIA

I Folau; A Ashley-Cooper, T Kuridrani, M Giteau, D Mitchell; B Foley, W Genia; S Sio, S Moore, S Kepu; K Douglas, D Mumm; S Fardy, S McMahon, D Pocock.

Replacements: T Polota-Nau, J Slipper, G Holmes, R Simmons, B MCCalman, N Phipps, M Toomua, K Beale.

WALES

G Anscombe; A Cuthbert, G North, J Roberts, L Williams; D Biggar, G Davies; P James, S Baldwin, S Lee; L Charteris, AW Jones; S Warburton, J Tipuric, T Faletau.

Replacements: K Owens, A Jarvis, T Francis, J Ball, R Moriarty, Ll Williams, R Priestland, J Hook.

*************
The pool decider.

Damn those boys in the Canary yellow shirts look good, really good. Going through top of the pool Wales would be likely to meet Japan or Scotland...! Go through second and we meet a refuvinated Bok side.

Just a quick breakdown of how the two sides compare caps/experience wise

Wales have a total 618 split Forwards 386 Backs 232

Australia have a total of 733 with a split of Forwards 312 Backs 421

Giteau, Mitchell and AAC have a huge amount of caps (274) between them and that's where we have been hit the worst with injuries in our back line.

If the match follows the recent pattern of +/- 5 or so points in it then I believe that will strongly favour Wales. As I said just after the England-Wales game... beware the wounded Dragon!

I'm sure Cheika is well aware of this fact and will be trying to ensure they continue on in a similar form to last week - but as we know - that is a pretty hard task.

This game is the biggest for both teams so far (yes, even more important than England)... and it won't stop there either after Saturday.
I hope both sides can progress from the QFs.

Bit of a dead rubber this really as given how tough this pool is all the winners have to look forward to is getting gazumped by Ireland in the semis or best case marmalized by the springboks in the final, only difference is the loser will get to experience the latter a few weeks earlier.  

As you were gentlemen!

This looks like a lets take a punt and see what happens Welsh team to me. I don't think Gatland is that optimistic about beating Australia while on the other hand I think he really believes we can deal with those ageing Boks in the same way we did last Autumn, particularly as they really haven't looked that good so far.

So, Gatland puts out a team that might have a chance and also takes the opportunity to get a couple of Western Mail monkeys off his back, they have nagged and nagged for Tuperic at 7 and North at centre so whatever happens the Welsh press will be hard pressed to criticise Gatland much for this selection.

Meanwhile his A team players in Lydiate, Davies and Jenkins get a good rest ready to whop the Boks, does it matter if we meet the AB's in the Semi Final rather than the final, either we can beat them or we cannot and if we do well hopefully by then the Irish will have taken care of the boys from down under again.

Newsilure wrote:This looks like a lets take a punt and see what happens Welsh team to me. I don't think Gatland is that optimistic about beating Australia while on the other hand I think he really believes we can deal with those ageing Boks in the same way we did last Autumn, particularly as they really haven't looked that good so far.

So, Gatland puts out a team that might have a chance and also takes the opportunity to get a couple of Western Mail monkeys off his back, they have nagged and nagged for Tuperic at 7 and North at centre so whatever happens the Welsh press will be hard pressed to criticise Gatland much for this selection.

Meanwhile his A team players in Lydiate, Davies and Jenkins get a good rest ready to whop the Boks, does it matter if we meet the AB's in the Semi Final rather than the final, either we can beat them or we cannot and if we do well hopefully by then the Irish will have taken care of the boys from down under again.

Wouldn't bet on that they will just slate him now for selecting them rather than for not.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Bit of a side note but it is likely that AWJ will get his 100th cap in the quarter finals.  

He'll get carried off on a stretcher now you've gone and said that



Shhhhhh

rodders wrote:Bgetting gazumped by Ireland in the semis or best case marmalized by the springboks in the final, only difference is the loser will get to experience the latter a few weeks earlier.  

As you were gentlemen!

True - Ireland looked VERY good against Italy the Boks were IMMENSE against Japan.

Newsilure wrote:This looks like a lets take a punt and see what happens Welsh team to me. I don't think Gatland is that optimistic about beating Australia while on the other hand I think he really believes we can deal with those ageing Boks in the same way we did last Autumn, particularly as they really haven't looked that good so far.

So, Gatland puts out a team that might have a chance and also takes the opportunity to get a couple of Western Mail monkeys off his back, they have nagged and nagged for Tuperic at 7 and North at centre so whatever happens the Welsh press will be hard pressed to criticise Gatland much for this selection.

Meanwhile his A team players in Lydiate, Davies and Jenkins get a good rest ready to whop the Boks, does it matter if we meet the AB's in the Semi Final rather than the final, either we can beat them or we cannot and if we do well hopefully by then the Irish will have taken care of the boys from down under again.

Have to disagree here - Gats has thought long and hard about this team and he has picked what he considers the best available - Lets wait and see.

Build up to this game has been weird. Both sides seem very calm and relaxed.

The Aus squad have spend the entire week complementing the welsh players and management,

Meanwhile, Warren Gatland has been caught actually SMILING! - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34477691?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_wales_sport&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=wales

Half expecting both teams to run at half speed the entire match!

RubyGuby wrote:

Newsilure wrote:This looks like a lets take a punt and see what happens Welsh team to me. I don't think Gatland is that optimistic about beating Australia while on the other hand I think he really believes we can deal with those ageing Boks in the same way we did last Autumn, particularly as they really haven't looked that good so far.

So, Gatland puts out a team that might have a chance and also takes the opportunity to get a couple of Western Mail monkeys off his back, they have nagged and nagged for Tuperic at 7 and North at centre so whatever happens the Welsh press will be hard pressed to criticise Gatland much for this selection.

Meanwhile his A team players in Lydiate, Davies and Jenkins get a good rest ready to whop the Boks, does it matter if we meet the AB's in the Semi Final rather than the final, either we can beat them or we cannot and if we do well hopefully by then the Irish will have taken care of the boys from down under again.

Have to disagree here - Gats has thought long and hard about this team and he has picked what he considers the best available - Lets wait and see.

Yes, Gatland is certainly a good thinker and I am sure he believes this team has a chance of winning, but I suspect he is too good a strategist not to have taken the opportunity to progress plan B by giving a couple of the hard men he will need for the Boks a good rest.

I rodders wrote:They look tired on paper to me.

Get a newer copy of the paper...!

I just bought one. They don't look so tired in this one.

wales606 wrote:Build up to this game has been weird. Both sides seem very calm and relaxed.

The Aus squad have spend the entire week complementing the welsh players and management,

Meanwhile, Warren Gatland has been caught actually SMILING! - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34477691?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_wales_sport&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=wales

Half expecting both teams to run at half speed the entire match!

That's not a smile mate that's wind...!

rodders wrote:Bit of a dead rubber this really as given how tough this pool is all the winners have to look forward to is getting gazumped by Ireland in the semis or best case marmalized by the springboks in the final, only difference is the loser will get to experience the latter a few weeks earlier.  

As you were gentlemen!

Dead rubber ? The Winner goes on a winning streak and gets momentum into playing either Scotland or Japan

The loser well...loses momentum and then plays a newly rampaging South Africa.

Dont think the inclusion of Paul James will improve our scrum enough to gain parity.

We will continue to kick the ball in field and run out of steam after a number of phases.

Aussie backline will cut us to shred.

Hope for no more injuries!

41 - 9

No, but Lee and Charteris should.

Can't see us losing 41-9

England had them rattled for a good twenty minutes and I believe we could do a bit better. I don't believe we will win, but I don't see us losing by more than 15

England never had them rattled. aus always looked well in charge of the game and look the best team in that group by a long long way

There were a few iffy passes being flown about for a team well in charge.

I think Wales have a great chance to win this game. I might be swimming against the tide here, but I don't think Australia were a 20 point better team last week. It's true that their scrum and breakdown work was superior, but apart from the 2 first half tries which were the result of some great backline play (or defensive lapses, whichever way you want to look at it), they didn't really threaten the tryline for the rest of the match.
In fact in the second half they didn't get in front on the scoreboard until time was up.

Fans and pundits alike are getting a bit carried away with the Australia performance.

Risca Rev wrote:There were a few iffy passes being flown about for a team well in charge.

That was once Genia went off

That's a rather moot point about Genia. He's probably not going to play eighty v us either. The point is, they did have a twenty minute wobble and it's our best chance of doing a bit against them if we can put them under a bit of pressure for a while.

Key players rested, tinkering behind - Gatland's prepping for the Boks qf mun.

goneagain wrote:I think Wales have a great chance to win this game. I might be swimming against the tide here, but I don't think Australia were a 20 point better team last week. It's true that their scrum and breakdown work was superior, but apart from the 2 first half tries which were the result of some great backline play (or defensive lapses, whichever way you want to look at it), they didn't really threaten the tryline for the rest of the match.
In fact in the second half they didn't get in front on the scoreboard until time was up.

Fans and pundits alike are getting a bit carried away with the Australia performance.

This ^^^

Everyone got a bit carried away, but it just goes to show you can never write Australia off. If you do, they'll turn up and do that. Aus for the last few years have lacked consistency, and as of yet I still don't think they're that consistent. Saturday is going to be a big one!

Huge

Wales are going to thrash Australia.

I can see it now.

Pot Hale wrote:Wales are going to thrash Australia.

I can see it now.

I agree.

Pot Hale wrote:Wales are going to thrash Australia.

I can see it now.

Feck me it's mystic Megan!

Sir Warren wrote:“It gives us that footwork and physical presence in midfield. I think eventually that’s where George will end up as gets older,” said Gatland.

“He’s trained well there and looks sharp while it’s a chance to get Liam back in on the left wing and we’ve continued to work with Alex Cuthbert because even though he hasn’t been playing as well as he’d have liked, giving him confidence and belief will hopefully get him back to form.”

Right, firstly if North is going to end up there, why delay it? Get the most out of this footwork and physical presence now. Also, that training line again

Secondly, Liam Williams back on the left wing where he doesn't really want to play. Brilliant.

Lastly for these quotes, the Cuthbert quotes really annoy me. It's gone past the stage now where we can allow him to find his belief. The guy is done. If we were a side of note, he would not have been in our squad after 2013/14 season.

Cuthbert's Dad wrote:He said: “We were happy with Tyler last week. Rob spoke to him and told him that he had learned a huge amount from the Fiji game. He’s one for the future definitely.

“He also had a bit of a tight hamstring and that probably swayed our decision. We wanted a full back-line from the start that had opportunity to train all week and to throw something a little bit different at Australia. I’m excited about the back line.”

So not out of his depth, I guess. Strange.

Given the injuries I am still quite pleased about what backline we have put out. With the current players in camp my backline would have been:

Davies, Biggar, North, Roberts, T Morgan, Cuthbert and Williams but once they moved North into the centre then I am glad they decided to go with Anscombe at XV rather than Hook.

Some of the other options that were being suggested such as Hook at 13, XV or even on the wing filled me with dread, I know Cuthbert has been p poor for 18 months now but none of the other options were brilliant anyway.

As for the forwards well as I have said for sometime that would be my 1st choice front five anyway and Lydiate along with B Davies and Jenkins are being rested ready for the Jocks or Japs in the quarters

I still don't think this Australia team has a RWC win in them, they havn't played anyone of note for ages, SA were awfull in the RC and backed that up by being beaten by Japan, Argentina mauled them in their own back yard, NZ played a 2's/fringe team v them and probably coulve won the game still, then a dejected and nervy England rolled over.

An injury strewn Wales will be their biggest test this season, and although I think Aus will nick it, I don't see them beating Ireland or NZ, and in fact Scotland and Argentina are prepped well to deal with them IMHO.

Astralia and France are looking good in very lucky situations, neither have been tested thus far, but we will get a better painting of what they are about after this weekend.

Quick question, if Wales eak out a win, any type of win this weekend will they become 2nd favourites to win the RWC out right?

The thing with this Australian side is their backs are electric so if so give them space and time etc they will punish you. I am not quite sure how good their scrum is but they can at least hold their own there now which they couldn't for many years.

Fanster wrote:I still don't think this Australia team has a RWC win in them, they havn't played anyone of note for ages, SA were awfull in the RC and backed that up by being beaten by Japan, Argentina mauled them in their own back yard, NZ played a 2's/fringe team v them and probably coulve won the game still, then a dejected and nervy England rolled over.

An injury strewn Wales will be their biggest test this season, and although I think Aus will nick it, I don't see them beating Ireland or NZ, and in fact Scotland and Argentina are prepped well to deal with them IMHO.

Astralia and France are looking good in very lucky situations, neither have been tested thus far, but we will get a better painting of what they are about after this weekend.

Quick question, if Wales eak out a win, any type of win this weekend will they become 2nd favourites to win the RWC out right?

Don't think you can discount this Aus team so easily.

They are well coached, have world class backs, are fantastic at the breakdown and now have a strong set-piece to go with it.

It will take a very good team to beat them

wales606 wrote:

Fanster wrote:I still don't think this Australia team has a RWC win in them, they havn't played anyone of note for ages, SA were awfull in the RC and backed that up by being beaten by Japan, Argentina mauled them in their own back yard, NZ played a 2's/fringe team v them and probably coulve won the game still, then a dejected and nervy England rolled over.

An injury strewn Wales will be their biggest test this season, and although I think Aus will nick it, I don't see them beating Ireland or NZ, and in fact Scotland and Argentina are prepped well to deal with them IMHO.

Astralia and France are looking good in very lucky situations, neither have been tested thus far, but we will get a better painting of what they are about after this weekend.

Quick question, if Wales eak out a win, any type of win this weekend will they become 2nd favourites to win the RWC out right?

Don't think you can discount this Aus team so easily.

They are well coached, have world class backs, are fantastic at the breakdown and now have a strong set-piece to go with it.

It will take a very good team to beat them

I'm not discounting them, I'm just realistically looking at their form over the last 3 months and not jumping on the medias bandwagon that they look superb because they've beaten teams in poor form, difficult situations and minnows.

Is their set peice that good? SA NZ and Argentina did enough to discount that in the RC, and with all the furore about Marler and co post England Wales (drummed up by Aus media btw and compounded by a british media smelling a good sales day) their scrum went well. Outside of the England game their set peice has been nothing special really, except humping Uraguay (Fiji btw very much had Aus scrum on toast when they got it right).

I recognise their world class players...

Genia (Still very out of form)

Foley (Not a world class attacking 10, but given an armchair ride v England)

Giteau (selected to take ball playing pressure off Foley, and has been solid at it)

Kuridrani (Great at what he does, but a bit 1D)

AAC/Tomane (not world class wing options)

Folau (World class but not really producing much in 2nd season syndrome)

Theyre baclkline matches anyone else at the tournament man for man, but what has it produced? Nothing v Fiji except a bit of lucky try, few of the above played v Fiji, then that armchair ride v England.

As I said, I am in no way discounting Australia, but they still have to prove they have enough to win a RWC with this squad, I have seen nothing of the sort yet, and even if they beat Wales it will be against a make shift backline and I'll still have question marks.

The area I am looking forward to seeing in the match tomorrow is the breakdown battle. Australia's back row hasn't been tested yet in this world cup especially playing with 2 7s. Will be interesting to see how well Wales go against it with playing 2 7s of their own.
The aussie scrum has come on leaps and bounds this season, think the major reason for that is the form of Scott Sio, was outstanding for the Brumbies this year at scrum time and seems to have carried that form into the wallabies.

Majestic83 wrote:The area I am looking forward to seeing in the match tomorrow is the breakdown battle. Australia's back row hasn't been tested yet in this world cup especially playing with 2 7s. Will be interesting to see how well Wales go against it with playing 2 7s of their own.
The aussie scrum has come on leaps and bounds this season, think the major reason for that is the form of Scott Sio, was outstanding for the Brumbies this year at scrum time and seems to have carried that form into the wallabies.

Can't beleive i'm agreeing so much...

Sio has become a bit of a rock, but Fiji took the scrum to peices at times, and Aus were powerless. The Fijian scrum has easily been the best in this group, but it lacks consistently.

Breakdown will be huge, but Hoopers speed to the breakdown has been the fundamental key to Australias play, with Pocock lurking, they have hunted in paris!!!

The best way to counter a poacher is to force him to tackle, and teams have fallen into the trap of making one of them tackle and being undone by the other. Tipiric doesn't have the same nous at the breakdown in D, however Wales going forward were going to be best equipped to deal with Aus anyway, without Hooper I think this is a 50/50 battle that could come down to refs whistle and ability of Pocock/Warburton to react.

Fanster wrote:

wales606 wrote:

Fanster wrote:I still don't think this Australia team has a RWC win in them, they havn't played anyone of note for ages, SA were awfull in the RC and backed that up by being beaten by Japan, Argentina mauled them in their own back yard, NZ played a 2's/fringe team v them and probably coulve won the game still, then a dejected and nervy England rolled over.

An injury strewn Wales will be their biggest test this season, and although I think Aus will nick it, I don't see them beating Ireland or NZ, and in fact Scotland and Argentina are prepped well to deal with them IMHO.

Astralia and France are looking good in very lucky situations, neither have been tested thus far, but we will get a better painting of what they are about after this weekend.

Quick question, if Wales eak out a win, any type of win this weekend will they become 2nd favourites to win the RWC out right?

Don't think you can discount this Aus team so easily.

They are well coached, have world class backs, are fantastic at the breakdown and now have a strong set-piece to go with it.

It will take a very good team to beat them

I'm not discounting them, I'm just realistically looking at their form over the last 3 months and not jumping on the medias bandwagon that they look superb because they've beaten teams in poor form, difficult situations and minnows.

Is their set peice that good? SA NZ and Argentina did enough to discount that in the RC, and with all the furore about Marler and co post England Wales (drummed up by Aus media btw and compounded by a british media smelling a good sales day) their scrum went well. Outside of the England game their set peice has been nothing special really, except humping Uraguay (Fiji btw very much had Aus scrum on toast when they got it right).

I recognise their world class players...

Genia (Still very out of form)

Foley (Not a world class attacking 10, but given an armchair ride v England)

Giteau (selected to take ball playing pressure off Foley, and has been solid at it)

Kuridrani (Great at what he does, but a bit 1D)

AAC/Tomane (not world class wing options)

Folau (World class but not really producing much in 2nd season syndrome)

Theyre baclkline matches anyone else at the tournament man for man, but what has it produced? Nothing v Fiji except a bit of lucky try, few of the above played v Fiji, then that armchair ride v England.

As I said, I am in no way discounting Australia, but they still have to prove they have enough to win a RWC with this squad, I have seen nothing of the sort yet, and even if they beat Wales it will be against a make shift backline and I'll still have question marks.

It is going to be interesting,

I think Warburton would make it into the 23 of any of the teams at the world cup, while Pocock would make it into the starting XV of any. This will could be the biggest backrow battle in the tournament. Both backrows are in fantastic form too.

Wales

Could you imagine a back row of...

6. Warburton
7. Hooper
8. Pocock

Fanster wrote:Wales

Could you imagine a back row of...

6. Warburton
7. Hooper
8. Pocock

With Tipuric on the bench

You would need some strong second rows. Perhaps AWJ and O'Connell, with Etzebeth off the bench

Fanster wrote:I am in no way discounting Australia, but they still have to prove they have enough to win a RWC with this squad

They don't need to 'prove' anything to a fan on a forum. Whether you think they can win it or not has no bearing on their actual ability to win it.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Fanster wrote:I am in no way discounting Australia, but they still have to prove they have enough to win a RWC with this squad

They don't need to 'prove' anything to a fan on a forum.

Of course they don't, but NZ, SA, Wales and IReland also aren't going to be bricking it because of over reactional media hype, so if they wantt to win the RWC they have to prove something to someone!

After watching Boots and all last night I am thinking this match is 50/50

John Mitchell and Taine Randall are of the opinion that Australia were fortunate to get away with their scrumming tactic of crabbing to accentuate Marler scrumming in, they suggest the crabbing is as illegal (which I agree with) and could just as easily been penalised.

They think the Aussie tight five is not as strong as it is percieved to be and the backrow will struggle against Wales.

Further more I think North and Roberts could run Foley and Giteau into the ground which would suggest the Aussie loosies will have to defend wider and that could potentially open up gaps on the inside.

Australia needs quick phase ball, and if Wales are smart and do what Ireland did in the previous world cup (keeping the ball carrier up and thus creating a maul turnover) by causing slow phase ball, Australia could struggle.

Having said that, if Australia gain parity and quick ball they should attack wide to wide

Fanster wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Fanster wrote:I am in no way discounting Australia, but they still have to prove they have enough to win a RWC with this squad

They don't need to 'prove' anything to a fan on a forum.

Of course they don't, but NZ, SA, Wales and IReland also aren't going to be bricking it because of over reactional media hype, so if they wantt to win the RWC they have to prove something to someone!

No they don't.

Fanster wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:The area I am looking forward to seeing in the match tomorrow is the breakdown battle. Australia's back row hasn't been tested yet in this world cup especially playing with 2 7s. Will be interesting to see how well Wales go against it with playing 2 7s of their own.
The aussie scrum has come on leaps and bounds this season, think the major reason for that is the form of Scott Sio, was outstanding for the Brumbies this year at scrum time and seems to have carried that form into the wallabies.

Can't beleive i'm agreeing so much...

Sio has become a bit of a rock, but Fiji took the scrum to peices at times, and Aus were powerless. The Fijian scrum has easily been the best in this group, but it lacks consistently.

Breakdown will be huge, but Hoopers speed to the breakdown has been the fundamental key to Australias play, with Pocock lurking, they have hunted in paris!!!

The best way to counter a poacher is to force him to tackle, and teams have fallen into the trap of making one of them tackle and being undone by the other. Tipiric doesn't have the same nous at the breakdown in D, however Wales going forward were going to be best equipped to deal with Aus anyway, without Hooper I think this is a 50/50 battle that could come down to refs whistle and ability of Pocock/Warburton to react.

You shouldn't be too surprised about agreeing so much, I am right most of the time

I actually think McMahon is possibly going to be an even better 7 than hooper & is already pretty close performance wise. He is slightly quicker than hooper and is more aggressive at the breakdown. Their turn over skills are fairly equal, hooper maybe just shades it at the moment but the other areas there isn't much difference between the two so don't think Australia will lose anything with not having Hooper playing.
The unsung hero of that aussie back row is Scott Fardy, has a huge engine on him for a big guy and does a lot of the donkey work to great effect.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Fanster wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Fanster wrote:I am in no way discounting Australia, but they still have to prove they have enough to win a RWC with this squad

They don't need to 'prove' anything to a fan on a forum.

Of course they don't, but NZ, SA, Wales and IReland also aren't going to be bricking it because of over reactional media hype, so if they wantt to win the RWC they have to prove something to someone!

No they don't.

hahahaha based on your years of international management experience?

Momentum is huge for the RWC IMO, and you need to make the top teams worry about what you can do, England have suffered from worrying too much about what Aus and Wales offer, and thus have payed for it.

Look at Japan, beating SA was a pure shock, but you better beleive Scotland took that game far more seriously because of it!

A team could tick all the boxes you have and still play a bad game and fall on its face. A team you think is terrible could win the tournament.

The Scots just agreed to hate the adulation the Japanese got for their win over South Africa. "We'll learn 'em!" was the war cry. PLUS - old Eddie spouted too much guff in advance. Sometimes a coach should just shut the hell up and let his players do the talking.

Aus by at least 10 for me but if we can stay with them and disrupt them as much as possible we may be in with a chance. I want to see the likes of North, Roberts and Faletau running at and over Foley - The battle between Genia and Davies, both feisty scrum halves will also be intriguing. The last time I relaxed watching Wales v Aus was in 1974 ish and we won 24-0 but it wasn't a surprise that day. Good luck to both teams

RubyGuby wrote:if we can stay with them and disrupt them as much as possible we may be in with a chance.

Agreed - I think this will be the underlying game plan, as I think it was with England. Keep taking the points, stay in touch and don't try anything flash unless it's definitely on!