Wales' tour Down Under will head to the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium this weekend, where they will face Australia in their second Test of the month on Saturday morning.
These two fierce rivals will clash for the second time in the space of a week after the hosts held on to a 25-16 victory at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney last weekend.
Match preview
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At last, Australia managed to bring an end to their dismal eight-year winless drought in Sydney, while simultaneously breaking their nearly two-year losing streak against tier 1 nations on the same day last weekend.
After a winless home season in 2023 and a disappointing performance on rugby's biggest stage under former coach Eddie Jones, last week's victory marked a perfect start to a new era under Joe Schmidt and gave fans hope that Australian rugby has found its rhythm again.
The major reason for the optimism came from the fact that the Wallabies' head coach introduced seven debutants in their matchday 23, the most in 44 years, including a new captain in Liam Wright, who became the most inexperienced skipper since Ken Catchpole led the Wallabies 63 winters ago.
Despite the pleasing result, though, Australia never appeared to have the game fully under control. At several points, it seemed they might falter in the final moments, similar to their performances against Argentina and the All Blacks that triggered the downward spiral culminating in their collapse in France.
However, led by a series of booming tackles by Rob Valetini, the gold wall held, and while it was far from a perfect performance, it was a victory sweeter than most, considering the turmoil the Wallabies have been through over the last 12 months.
With that result, Australia leapfrogged Italy, who suffered a 33-25 loss to Samoa at Apia Park on Friday, to eighth place in the world rankings, and will now have their sights set on reeling in Argentina before this month's fixtures are complete.
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Meanwhile, despite putting up a brave fight in the first Test, Wales were unable to avoid a 12th successive defeat against the Wallabies on Australian soil with their last victory Down Under registered way back in 1969.
Additionally, Warren Gatland's side have now lost eight Tests in a row and remain winless in 2024, having last tasted victory at the Rugby World Cup in France last year when they defeated Georgia in the pool stages.
During their current losing streak, the Dragons lost a World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, all five Tests during this year's Six Nations campaign to collect the wooden spoon, and their most recent matches against South Africa and Australia.
Concerningly, another loss this weekend would leave Gatland's men just one loss short of their worst-ever Test run, a 10-game losing streak which occurred between 2002 and 2003 under New Zealander Steve Hansen.
Last week's loss has dropped Wales to 11th place on World Rugby's official rankings list - their lowest position since the ranking system was launched 21 years ago - and just five years after they held the world number one spot.
The two major positives Gatland would have taken from last week, though, would have been the performances of Cardiff Rugby's Ben Thomas at fly-half, who kicked nine points with a 100% success rate, while Aaron Wainwright put in another stellar showing and is fast becoming one of the best number eights in the world.
Australia form (all competitions):
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- W
Wales form (all competitions):
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
Team News
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Schmidt announced his starting lineup on Thursday, with James Slipper set to captain the side from the front row alongside hooker Matt Faessler and powerhouse Taniela Tupou.
The captaincy moving to Slipper results from Liam Wright sustaining an injury, which also causes a shuffle in the back row with Rob Valetini shifting to the blindside flank, Charlie Cale coming into the side and Fraser McReight completing the trio.
After a standout performance last week, Aaron Wainwright misses out this weekend through a hamstring injury. As a result, Taine Plumtree will shift to number eight, while James Botham and Tommy Reffell with play on the blind and openside flanks respectively.
Josh Hathaway is also ruled out for this match due to injury, which sees Liam Williams move out to the wing opposite Rio Dyer, and Cameron Winnett is brought into the squad at full-back.
Australia starting lineup: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Josh Flook, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Filipo Daugunu, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Charlie Cale, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Jeremy Williams, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 James Slipper (c)
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Isaac Kailea, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Angus Blyth, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Nic White, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Dylan Pietsch
Wales starting lineup: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Mason Grady, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Ben Thomas, 9 Ellis Bevan, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 James Botham, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Christ Tshiunza, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Harri O'Connor, 19 Cory Hill, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Nick Tompkins
We say: Australia 28-18 Wales
Joe Schmidt got his first proper look at his new team last time out and has had a full week to build on their performance. We are expecting a much more polished performance from the Wallabies in this match and feel they will secure a fairly comfortable victory.
No Data Analysis info
Devesh Jaganath
