Although Wales have struggled with their form ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup in France, Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones is wary of his Pool C rivals at the global showpiece.
Australia were drawn alongside Wales and Fiji for the third time in as many tournaments and they will be joined by Georgia and Portugal.
Wales have struggled in recent years and, after suffering a shock home defeat against the Lelos at the end of 2022, Warren Gatland returned to take over the coaching reins from Wayne Pivac, who was fired.
Gatland had previously coached Wales between 2008 and 2019, during which time they won three Six Nations Grand Slam titles, and they also reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2011 and 2015.
Wales still struggled despite Gatland’s return
But despite his return, Wales still struggled during this year’s Six Nations and finished in fifth position, with a win over bottom-placed Italy their only victory in the championship.
Apart from that, they lost the services of experienced players like Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb, who all announced their retirements after being named in Gatland’s preliminary World Cup squad.
And Wales’ situation worsened on Friday when Cory Hill, who has been playing his club rugby in Japan, became the latest player to leave Gatland’s squad to take up a contract opportunity outside of Wales.
Despite all those setbacks, Jones expects a tough challenge when the Wallabies and Wales do battle in their World Cup pool encounter in Lyon on September 24.
“They’ve had a tough Six Nations but sometimes a tough Six Nations can be almost the ideal preparation for a World Cup,” he told the BBC.
“You work out what you haven’t done well. You work out maybe some selection issues and then you go into the World Cup with a renewed focus and a renewed purpose.
“That’s the danger of Wales, they’ll get that. They’ve got one of the most experienced Welsh coaches of all time in Warren Gatland and we know he’s a very successful coach.
“He’s got a great track record at the World Cup, so we know it’s going to be a very difficult game.”
Meanwhile, former Wales wing Shane Williams has urged Gatland to look at how the Crusaders beat Fijian Drua in Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final and use that as a blueprint when Wales face Fiji in their World Cup opener in Bordeaux on September 10.
“Thank you, Scott Robertson and your Crusaders players for showing Wales the way to beat Fiji in their opening game at the World Cup,” wrote Williams in his column in The Rugby Paper.
“Unlike Wales in 2007, they didn’t get involved in a running battle. They played territory, turned the game into a forward slog for as long as they could, and were thoroughly committed at the breakdown.
No panic from Crusaders
“Even after they had gifted the Drua an interception try they didn’t panic. They kept things tight and won with something to spare in the end, with the forwards scoring the majority of their tries.
“The blueprint for Wales was laid out for them. Now all Gatland needs to do is get his front five ready for action and decide who he picks in his back-row to dominate the breakdown area.
“Whoever Wales pick at centre will need to be ready for 80 minutes of hard tackling and staying in shape. The Crusaders managed to frustrate all attempts at the Fijians to break up the game and create chaos with the running and off-loading.
“It wasn’t easy and it came at a high physical price as they ended with 13 players having run out of replacements.”
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