For once, both teams will have a recent game under their belts, rather than Wales going into the opening game of the Under Armour Series. With some of the cobwebs dusted in their 21-10 win, Alun Wyn Jones’s side are now setting their sights on clinching the James Bevan Trophy.
Four years ago, Cheika arrived in the Welsh capital for his first fully fledged international in charge of the Wallabies, and not long after was taking his side all the way to the final against the All Blacks.
He returns to Principality Stadium, where he won the Heineken Cup with Leinster Rugby back in 2012, looking to lay down a marker ahead of an even more vital clash against Warren Gatland’s side at next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Wales made it six wins in a row last weekend and remain third in the World Rugby rankings. Gatland will have Dan Biggar, Liam Williams, Tom Francis and Josh Adams available to him this weekend, while hopes are high that injuries won’t prevent Ellis Jenkins, Rhys Patchell and Samson Lee from making themselves available for selection.
It means there will be even greater strength in depth from which Gatland will be able to pick a team to build on their first opening day victory in 16 years in the autumn.
Having put in a strong defensive shift against the Scots, which included 179 tackles, Wales will look to do so once more this weekend against a side that signed off their 2018 Rugby Championship campaign with six tries against the Pumas in Salta.
The intensity levels will rise, the expectation on both sides will be huge and Principality Stadium is set for a real treat in round two of the 2018 Under Armour Series.
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