Gatland issues warning to Wallabies after Foley seals late win in Cardiff
WALES COACH Warren Gatland warned Australia they would face a ‘different beast’ at the 2015 World Cup after the Wallabies won a Millennium Stadium thriller. Bernard Foley’s late drop-goal and penalty secured Australia’s 10th consecutive victory in this fixture and in that sequence this was the ninth Wallabies win by a margin of less than 10 points.
The two sides will meet again at the pool stage of the World Cup at Twickenham next October, in a group also including tournament hosts England, and Gatland believes the extra preparation time he will get with his squad will prove invaluable.
‘When we face them in the World Cup we think it’s going to be a different beast, a different animal is going to be facing them in that pool game,’ Gatland said. ‘We said our time together will be a big upward curve and we will continue to get better.’
Gatland insisted Wales would improve during the autumn international series with Fiji the visitors next weekend ahead of sterner visits from New Zealand and South Africa.
He said the coaching staff had pushed the players “right to the edge” in the build-up to the Australia game and he was delighted with the intensity and tempo of Wales’ performance as well as what he saw as improvements in the scrummaging and line-out departments.
‘We were pretty restricted to what we could do in the last few weeks so I think that performance ticked a lot of boxes,” Gatland said. ‘We matched their intensity and tempo and we’ll only get better and stronger when we have that preparation time.’
Wales actually had the edge 4-3 on try count and Gatland said that was another source of comfort after a 21st consecu- tive Test defeat against one of the three southern hemisphere super-powers.
‘Australia are hard to break down and keep the ball well themselves but our ball retention will get better.’
Australia coach Michael Chieka said his side’s victory would have no impact on their World Cup collision with Wales in 11 months’ time.
‘I’ve never seen one game have an impact on another one so far away,’ he said. ‘But the way we prepare, I like to think in tight games it will always go our way.’
Cheika paid tribute to Foley whose 18point haul included a well-taken drop goal which the coach admitted was not the traditional Australian way of doing things.
‘We don’t practice drop goals so Bernard sitting back and taking it was good play – and he delivered,’ insisted the former Leinster coach.