Wales want no more Wallaby heartache

Wales want no more Wallaby heartache

  • Wales have lost their last ten meetings with Australia
  • Welsh fly-half James Hook expects tough test against the Wallabies
  • The winners of the match will finish top of Pool A

Wales are determined to ensure they are not on the end of yet another soul-crushing defeat to Australia when they face them at Twickenham in the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.

Both teams are fighting for top spot in Pool A after seeing off England, Fiji and Uruguay in their previous games so far. Those defeats saw the England become the primary hosts of a tournament to crash out at this stage.

The Welsh have lost ten straight matches to the Wallabies. However, the last nine have all been by nine points or fewer.

The last time the two side met, Australia came out on top in a thriller, beating the Welsh 33-28 in Cardiff.

Bernard Foley, nicknamed the Iceman for his impeccable knack of kicking points under lots of pressure, scored 18 points from the tee last time out and is expected to play a significant role again at the South-West London stadium.

The number 10 was the match-winner last time out against England, scoring a staggering 28 points in total and as a result Wales fly-half James Hook is expecting another tough test.

“You expected Australia to play well, but not as well as they did. A lot has been made over England being bad, but a lot of credit has to go to Australia.

“We’re delighted – it was a great favour to us. It was probably the first and last time I’ve supported Australia.

“They were brilliant on the day; they have so much experience and quality in their team, so it wasn’t really a surprise.”

The Gloucester man spoke about the heartache his teammates have felt in previous encounters, and his side are determined to claim a victory.

“The boys have spoken about how much heartache we’ve had against Australia, so we have to go in with huge motivation.”

“Everyone is beatable; it’s just about getting it right on the day.”

The 30-year-old’s versatility across the back line means he is likely to be involved against the Aussies, especially with the amount of injury concerns surrounding the Welsh side at the moment.

Despite this, Hook explained that there will be no lack of self-belief within the squad as they are confident they can end their string of bad results against their southern hemisphere counterparts.

“Momentum is huge, and the Wales win over England was massive,” Hook said.

“You can see the confidence in the boys since I’ve arrived. This is another big test this week and then in the quarter-finals, and hopefully we can do something special.”