High stakes for Wales and Wallabies in Cardiff
CARDIFF: Wales host Australia in the two teams’ final rugby test of the year on Saturday with both badly in need of a win.
AFP Sport highlights three key areas that will have a bearing on the match:
Coaches under pressure
With less than a year to the World Cup, Wales coach Wayne Pivac and Australia handler Dave Rennie would hope the quadrennial showpiece is too close for them to be removed.
However, the pressure on both is huge after a terrible set of results this year, which included historic defeats for the Wallabies at the hands of Italy, and the Welsh coming off a loss to Georgia.
Pivac’s credit in the bank due to the 2021 Six Nations title is all but used up with eight defeats in 11 Tests this year. The 60year-old New Zealander, whose overall record is 19 defeats in 33 Tests since taking over from compatriot Warren Gatland following the 2019 World Cup, says his own future must not intrude on the team’s focus for Saturday.
“Other people make those decisions. What we do internally is make sure we prepare the best we can. I can’t get sidetracked by those sorts of things,” said Pivac on Thursday.
Rennie, 58, unlike his fellow New Zealander, has no such laurels as a continental title to rest on. Defeat for the Wallabies would be their 10th in 14 matches in 2022, a record that would consign them to their worst calendar year since 1958.
However, Rennie’s side could just as easily have been looking at rounding off their tour unbeaten – an opening win over the Scots were followed by single point defeats both by Six Nations champions France and Italy.
Last Saturday they gave Ireland, the team ranked No 1 in the world, a heck of a tussle to lose 13-10.
“We can take belief out of the last few weeks, particularly the performances in Dublin and Paris against really strong sides, but we need to be better,” said Rennie on Thursday.
“If we win a couple of key moments, we win a couple of Tests at strong venues.”
Young Wallaby wings to take flight?
Jordan Petaia and Mark Nawaqanitawase are two of the few positives the Wallabies can take out of the tour. Both 22 and set to start on the wings for the Australians on Saturday they took the eye against Ireland.
Petaia has far more experience – Saturday will be his 25th Test compared to his team-mate’s third – but they are just the type of young player Rennie hopes would make a potent blend with the veterans come next September’s World Cup.
Nawaqanitawase describes himself as ‘chilled’ and is ‘fortunate to have long arms’, but his team-mates acknowledge he and Petaia – who scored an excellent try against the Irish – provide potent weapons for them.
“I think it just gives us two big wingers who are willing to carry and then if the ball goes up, getting up for the ball,” said Wallabies centre Len Ikitau.
Welsh ‘talisman’ Halfpenny returns
Pivac’s cause has not been helped by injuries to key players for the Autumn Nations Series Tests but one of them returns for the Wallabies match – talismanic full-back Leigh Halfpenny.
Fingers, though, will be crossed that the 33-year-old comes through unscathed in what is his first Test since he suffered a serious knee injury 15 months ago.
His coach at Scarlets, Dwayne Peel, says he still possesses the qualities that have made him indispensable to his country for over a decade.
“He’s quiet but he has massive experience under his belt,” said Peel.
“He’s probably made a living out of anticipating kick space and reading a 10’s body language. He’s been excellent at that throughout his career.”
The man in Halfpenny’s sights on Saturday is Ben Donaldson – making his first Test start at fly-half – that could make it a demanding afternoon for the young Wallaby.