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'Wales are back on track for a massive game against Australia next week'

By Josh Raisey
Wales/ PA

Both Wales and Australia will be seeking to end the Autumn Nations Series on a high this Saturday after disappointing campaigns.

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Wales got their first win of the autumn on Sunday after overcoming Fiji with a late flurry, having lost to South Africa and the All Blacks before then. Meanwhile, Australia will arrive in Cardiff on the back of consecutive losses to Scotland and England.

It will be an encounter between two injury-ravaged sides, with Australia losing their captain and talisman Michael Hooper this week after the flanker picked up a foot injury against England. James Slipper will captain the Wallabies in his place.

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When, where and how to watch the match
The match will kick-off at 17:30 (GMT) on Saturday November 20th at the Principality Stadium and will be broadcast live on Amazon Prime.

Head-to-head
Wales are on a two-match winning streak over the Wallabies since 2018, having endured a 13-match losing run against them the decade before. Their last encounter was their 2019 pool stage clash, in which Wales came out on top with a 29-5 win.

Overall, the Wallabies have won 30 of their 43 matches, with Wales winning twelve and one draw.

Match odds from bet365
bet365  have the handicap on Wales at -3, with 11/10 odds that they win both halves and 4/5 odds that they will be the first side to score.

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Prediction
Former Wales internationals Tom Shanklin and Sam Warburton said in commentary after the Fiji match that their compatriots will take a lot of confidence from the win.

“For large amounts of this game Wales were under a massive amount of pressure,” Shanklin said. “But for them to see it out, for them to come back, especially after being nine points behind at one stage, to come back to win 38-23, they’ll take a lot of confidence from this going into Australia next week.”

“Wales will be very pleased they got a win,” the former British & Irish Lions and Wales captain said. “Otherwise it would have been five defeats on the bounce- they’re back on track for a massive game against Australia next week.”

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*Odds accurate as of 17/11/21.

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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FEATURE Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby? Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?
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