Wales v Australia
- 2000 BST, Sunday September 24 – ITV
The Rugby World Cup's two most experienced coaches go head-to-head in a meeting between two of the most frustrating of teams. Australia and Wales have arguably fallen further than any of the top teams, in addition to England, maybe, in the last World Cup cycle and have turned to familiar faces in Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland in a bid to restore their fortunes.
Jones and Gatland have been there and done it all before but defeat for Australia would see the Wallabies go home before the quarter-finals for the first time in history. Desperate times require desperate measures and you cannot help but think putting Ben Donaldson at 10 smacks of that. Donaldson defied the critics while playing at full-back with his 25-point haul against Georgia in round one, and has it in him to do it again.
But given the position the Wallabies are in, they need cool, experienced heads to channel the emotion that will be coursing through their veins. Donaldson is not that player. He failed in his biggest clutch moment to date, missing the conversion that would have averted Australia’s first-ever loss to Italy in Florence last November, whereas Wales’ fly-half DAN BIGGAR has proven time and time again, he thrives on pressure.
Australia’s desperation to convert their high possession into more points could lead to Donaldson, who comes in for the raw but ‘cooked’ Carter Gordon, forcing the issue whenever Australia get a sniff of the Welsh line. And, equally in defence, any ill-discipline, which has been an issue under Jones, is likely to be punished with Biggar’s boot being one of the best around.
Biggar will bow out of Test rugby at the tournament’s end, and he will move heaven and earth to make sure that is not before the quarter-finals. If anyone is going to get the win for their side almost singlehandedly, and the Player of the Match award with it, then Biggar is that man.
WALES have struggled to impose their own game-plan on the opposition in the wins over Fiji and Portugal – some would say they haven’t even got one – but they have always found a way to get the job done.
If nothing else, Wales have a dogged quality about them, epitomised by their captain Jac Morgan, who has taken to the role seamlessly, and we’re backing them to put past last-gasp defeats to Australia behind them in what could be a chaotic, helter-skelter game of many points.
Posted at 1630 BST on 22/09/23
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