Archie Griffin on the charge against Australia in the summer
Summer form bolsters Wales hopes for Wallabies clash
After two close shaves against the Wallabies in the summer Warren Gatland is hoping to reverse the result over Joe Schmidt’s side when they come to Principality Stadium on Sunday 17 November for Wales’ second game in the Autumn Nations Series.
The James Bevan Trophy will be up for grabs once again and having been beaten 25-16 in Sydney and 36-28 in Melbourne, Gatland wants his team to close the gap on home soil.
Just over a year ago Wales dismantled Eddie Jones’ Aussie side by a record margin, 40-6, to send them tumbling out of the World Cup at the Pool stage for the first time. That made it four wins out of five against Australia from 2018-23 for Wales.
With Schmidt’s squad having finished bottom of the recent Rugby Championship and looking to build towards next year’s challenge of taking on the British & Irish Lions in their own backyard, the game in the Welsh capital will be significant for both teams
It will be 40 years on from when the Wallabies completed their first and only Grand Slam tour in the UK in 1984, beating England (19-3), Ireland (16-9), Wales (28-9) and finally Scotland (37-12). It was the era of the Ella brothers, Nick Farr-Jones, Michael Lynagh, Andy Slack, David Campese and Simon Poidevin.
Many of that team went on to win the World Cup in 1991 and have long been heralded as one of the greatest teams of all-time. But that was then, and next month we’ll discover what they have in their locker ahead of the Lions tour.
The James Bevan trophy will be on the line again after Australia secured it in the summer
“Joe Schmidt is looking to develop some players in the squad over the next year or two to get them ready for the 2025 Lions tour next year and then the 2027 World Cup in Australia,” said Gatland.
“We had a couple of good performances against them in the summer when we got close. We had opportunities in those two Tests to potentially sneak both games.
“So, after seeing some of our players mature on that tour and have a good start to the season in terms of their regional rugby, we’re looking forward to meeting them again at Principality Stadium. We’ll have some experienced players back who weren’t available to go on the tour as well to give us some depth. We’re really looking forward to the whole of the autumn campaign, but particularly that game against Australia.”
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After a promising start with a win over Georgia and then a double over Wales, Schmidt found it tough going when Australia won only one game out of six in the Rugby Championship. They kick-off their Autumn Nations Series campaign against England at Twickenham on Saturday 9 November and then come to Cardiff.
They have won four of their nine Tests this year and won only two of their nine internationals in 2023. But there were chinks of light during the recent Rugby Championship.
'Having known Joe for a number of years and the way he likes to play - quite structured, with the carryings off nine and trying to open up holes around the ruck - they didn’t really surprise us on tour, and we’ll be prepared for all that' - Warren Gatland
“They’re still developing as a team under Schmidt. In one of their performances against the All Blacks they would have considered the first 20 minutes to be pretty poor and the All Blacks looked like they were going to win by 50-60 points,” said Gatland.
“But the All Blacks missed a couple of opportunities, and the Australians hung on in the game, came back and potentially could have snuck it at the death. In the second game in Wellington, Australia started extremely strongly, put the All Blacks under a lot of pressure and it was a really close game at half-time.
“Then the All Blacks were able to score a few points in the second half and ultimately win the game. But the Wallabies are developing as a side and they’re obviously looking at combinations and consistency in terms of selection.
“Having known Joe for a number of years and the way he likes to play – quite structured, with the carryings off nine and trying to open up holes around the ruck – they didn’t really surprise us on tour, and we’ll be prepared for all that.
“The players that toured were fantastic and I think Wales as a whole, and the Union in particular, should be really proud of the way they conducted themselves. It was a new experience for many of them being away from home for that length of time.
Wales players are put through their paces at a training session during the tour of Australia in the summer
“They will have gained great experience from the way we trained and prepared. That experience will hold us in good stead when we play Australia again in the autumn.
“It’s going to be another tight game, and we’ve got to go out there and look to dominate. There are a few areas we need to focus on, particularly in the contact area. It’s an area we need to get better at.
“We’ve been proficient there in the past and it’s kept us in games and helped us win games against big teams. So, for us it’s an area that’s definitely going to be important to make sure we increase and improve the speed of the ball we give to our backs.
“We need to give them some opportunities to score tries. We scored some nice tries out there in the summer, but with a little bit of inexperience we made a few mistakes and had a few turnovers.”
