Australia coach Robbie Deans is in the rare position of being able to pick from a full strength side as he prepares to burn the midnight oil in preparation for Saturday’s Invesco Perpetual clash against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
The Wallabies stunned the All Blacks with an epic 26-24 victory in Hong Kong on Saturday with Deans confirming the tourists have a clean bill of health after arriving in Cardiff.
“We will pick what we deem to be our best line-up against Wales to hopefully perform and get a result,” said Deans.
“It appears we have come through the New Zealand game unscathed and have the potential to name an unchanged side, which makes a change. Continuity is starting to serve us. Those who played in Hong Kong have done their chances of being selected on Saturday no harm.”
“Confidence and belief are good if well-founded and well-applied,” added Deans. “If we were to make any presumptions about Saturday it would be to our disadvantage. The result (against New Zealand) will benefit the side – there is a fair bit of relief. But Wales played very well in New Zealand in the summer, far better than the scoreboard indicated. They played a lot of good rugby, but they did not get a lot of reward for it.
The Wallabies are currently ranked the second best side in the world behind the All Blacks while Warren Gatland’s men are ninth. The visitors will be hoping influential fly half Quade Cooper can continue his magical play behind the scrum but Deans is expecting opposing teams will try and shackle his attacking skills.
“The challenge for Quade will be different to that in the Tri-Nations, and he had an insight into that in our last outing against England. Teams will choose tactics which suit them and deny the opposition. England were successful in denying us in Sydney.
“Warren [Gatland] will have seen that and be hatching some plans. What happens in the future remains to be seen, but he (Cooper) is getting an opportunity. He is a bit like us – we are not the complete package, but we are working hard at it.”
Tickets for all four Invesco Perpetual Tests against Australia, South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand are available in Thomas Cook and Going Places stores around Wales and the UK.
Tickets are also available online by clicking here by phoning 08442 777888 or by calling into the WRU’s cafe/store, The Cardiff Arms, 8 Westgate Street, Cardiff.
