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Josh Adams: Wales want to wrap up quarter-final place against Australia
Josh Adams says the chance to clinch a Rugby World Cup quarter-final place on Sunday has been a motivational force behind Wales’ preparations to face Australia.
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Wales will guarantee a last-eight place if they topple the Wallabies in Lyon.
And they would do it with a game to spare, with their final Pool C fixture against Georgia a fortnight away.
Bonus-point victories over Fiji and Portugal have given Wales a maximum return of 10 points, and they will face an Australian side reeling from losing to Fiji six days ago.
That 22-15 defeat has left Eddie Jones’ team on the brink of elimination, facing a serious prospect of making a pool-stage exit for the first time in World Cup history.
“It is in our hands now, which is a nice feeling,” Wales wing Adams said. “It is all depending on us and how we perform.
“We are quite aware of the carrot at the end, if you like, and it has motivated us a lot this week, if I am honest.
“It is the best week we’ve had in my opinion. We are pretty highly motivated for this game, as will Australia be of course. It’s a massive game for them as well.
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“The past couple of games against Australia have been very tight. Sunday will be no different. Improving on our first two performances will be really important for us.
“Once we had put the Portugal game to bed, all the focus turned to Australia. I have felt the energy build as the week has gone on, which has been a good thing.
“We’ve talked about different aspects of the game, what it means for us as a squad going forward. Sunday will be a great contest, with both teams going after each other.”
Wales have never failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals with Warren Gatland in charge, having got there in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
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And their current status is a far cry from results in last season’s Six Nations, when Wales finished fifth after losing four of their five games.
Four months of intense preparation, though, has moulded a fiercely-competitive squad that has every chance of going deep in the tournament.
Adams added: “We have shown aspects of that brotherhood, how much we are willing to work hard for each other.
“We have had three months of it prior to coming here, and that work we have done has put us in good stead.
“We understand what we expect from each other. I expect the best of everybody else, and they should not expect anything less from me.
“As a squad we make a promise to each other before we play that no matter what happens out there we will constantly keep fighting for everything, every ball in the air, every ball on the floor, as a squad we will continually scrap for everything.
“We want to be a difficult team to beat and break down, and we have shown passages of that. We can get better and push it further.
“That is our aim, to impose ourselves defensively in a more aggressive way, but we need to be disciplined.
“Some of our discipline has been poor, and we have addressed it across the squad. I have no doubt everybody will scrap for 80, 90 or 100 minutes on Sunday.”
Comments on RugbyPass
No question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
95 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
95 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
95 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
147 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
95 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
95 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
95 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
95 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
95 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
95 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
95 Go to commentsHonestly, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. RSA has a ton of experienced talent in its leadership group. I am more interested in who is the new 8 man/8 men and the younger props. The captain may change but the system does not
1 Go to commentsBen, you are one of the most arrogant and self opionated rugby critics I have ever come across (next to Keohane). I hoped that after SA beating the best ranked teams in the world on their way to the WC (something not done before) that you might have the grace to admit that this is a special team that deserved the accolades coming their way. You have no humility and as has been been already pointed out, merely a troll to attract audience numbers. Count me out in the future.
95 Go to comments‘War of independence’. Such a grand name for a few skirmishes. Where were all the great battles of this ‘war’ ? Smith got goosebumps as he was being emotionally manipulated, another mushroom.
1 Go to comments