The Wallabies will be looking to keep the good times rolling when they take on a Welsh outfit who after last weekend’s 25-16 defeat are now on an eight match losing run and are yet to win a game in 2024. Darry Worthington previews.
Australia v Wales
Saturday 13 July – 11:45
AAMI Park, Melbourne
The hosts head into this one as firm favourites with the bookmakers with a double-figure handicap line set. Find out why our scribe thinks the Aussies will clear it below.
To Win Match
Australia 1/5 | Draw 25/1 | Wales 38/10
Handicap
Australia (-10.5) 9/10 | Wales (+10.5) 9/10
Joe Schmidt got his tenure as Wallaby mentor underway with a positive start as his charges registered a nine-point win over Warren Gatland’s Wales. While there are still loads of areas to improve on for the Australians, they did look a lot better than they had at any time under Eddie Jones.
With both teams having struggled for form in previous matches, the start of this one was always going to be cagey and so it proved with the opening 20 minutes seeing the two sides trade penalties. The Wallabies, who had looked more threatening with ball-in-hand during the opening quarter of the fixture, managed to cross the Welsh try line with cult figure prop Taniela Tupou dotting down 21 minutes in. Wales would hit back with a penalty try a couple minutes later, which proved to be the last scoring play for the half as the teams went into the changing rooms with Australia 13-10 to the good,
Filipe Daugunu gave the Australians some breathing room on the 50-minute mark as he grabbed a try but the Wallabies lead would be pinned back through a couple penalties. The turning point in the match came in the 68th minute as Tom Wright scored an absolute blinder, running in a try from his own half which settled the match.
So a good start for the Wallabies but there is work to be done. They were poor when it came to maul defence. Another area they will need to improve on is how clinical they are when deep inside the opposition’s 22 as they coughed up some good try-scoring opportunities.
As for the Welsh, it’s hard to see where they can get better. They are missing a number of players through injury and they have a threadbare and very inexperienced squad as Gatland looks to continue his total overhaul of the side.
Verdict: Australia (-10.5) 9/10
I’m expecting more from the Wallabies this week. They looked decent enough in the first Test and if they can be a bit more clinical, they could well run up a big score here.
