Two men down and Wales continually pressing against the line.
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CAPTAIN Sam Warburton has backed Wales to bounce back from their World Cup anguish against Australia by repeating their success against the Springboks in the quarter-finals.
The Wallabies produced a defensive performance for the ages to deny a valiant Welsh outfit, and did so with two players off the field during the second half – with halfback Will Genia and lock Dean Mumm sin-binned for cynical fouls within three minutes of each other.
That result dashed the hopes of Japan, surprise conquerors of South Africa in their opening match, reaching a first ever quarter-final berth which they would have been fighting for on Sunday against the United States if the Scots had lost.
But after seeing off South Africa at the Millennium Stadium in 2014 after throwing away a huge lead in Nelspruit that summer, Gatland has the utmost belief in his squad.
“It was a different type of game for us and so we had to show a different skin”.
In a pivotal period which could define their Rugby World Cup campaign, the Wallabies held firm and powered to a 15-6 win described as one of their sweetest in recent times, with five-eighth Bernard Foley kicking five penalties.
Scarlets back Williams suffered a foot injury during Wales’ 15-6 defeat against Australia in last Saturday’s Pool A decider at Twickenham.
“It’s a challenge next week, great teams bounce back and I’m confident we’ll do that”.
“When we look at it, I think it will be pretty obvious what went wrong”. “The disappointment [against Japan], and they haven’t had a great 12 months as a side, but when it’s mattered and people have criticised them it shows the character they have got”.
Wales, despite being hit by repeated injury setbacks, emerged from the World Cup’s so-called “pool of death” in second place behind Australia. “It’s just another game next week”. Where’s the Welsh flair that we’ve seen?
England captain Chris Robshaw was heavily criticized for not taking a shot at goal that could have equalized late against Wales, opting instead for a try.
Fellow commentator and former Wallaby Rod Kafer praised the Australian defensive effort, while Greg Clarke described the Aussies as “courageous”.
“We’ve done incredibly well to get out of the group with everything surrounding us and we’re excited about a quarter-final”.
“You’ve got to give credit to Australia for defending like that,” Wales Coach Warren Gatland said.
“I felt we needed a try to beat Australia”. “You can’t get away with a bad game”, he said.
“We were six points behind and they had a player or two down”.
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Wallabies coach Michael Cheika wanted to substitute his star in the dying minutes, but there were no reserves left on the bench and Folau had to play through pain. “Liam Williams ruled out of RWC with foot injury”, said a statement on the Welsh Rugby Union’s Twitter feed on Sunday.
