Wales v Australia
Venue: Millennium Stadium Date: Saturday, 6 November Kick-off: 1430 GMT Coverage: Exclusively live on BBC TWO & online, plus full commentary on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru

Wallaby wing James O'Connor is set to take the kicks against Wales

Australia coach Robbie Deans has kept the same 22 that beat New Zealand for Saturday's international against Wales in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

The Wallabies ended a 10-match losing streak against the All Blacks with a 26-24 win in Hong Kong last weekend.

James O'Connor is set to take over the kicking duties as Matt Giteau continues to struggle with the boot.

Winger O'Connor, 20, landed two testing conversions late on to seal the win over New Zealand in Hong Kong.

Western Force number eight Ben McCalman is the only man in the starting XV who has not played at the Millennium Stadium before.

"Ultimately what we are aiming for is back-to-back victories and to achieve that would be great," said coach Deans.

"Obviously it was a fillip getting the result last week. Critically, we need the team to recognise what it took to put ourselves in that position and not to take that for granted.

"We need to ensure that our preparation during the week is on the money, otherwise it will start the decline in standards which will result in the decline of the performance on the weekend.

"What we're looking for out of the game itself will be the added elements that we haven't previously been doing consistently, particularly some of our decisions around when to play and when to look for field position in the last 20 minutes of the game.

"Last weekend we showed a significant improvement in our decision-making which is something that we'd focused on, but we need to ensure that it doesn't taper."

Australia team to face Wales in Cardiff on 6 November:
Kurtley Beale; James O'Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell; Quade Cooper, Will Genia; Benn Robinson, Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander, Mark Chisholm, Nathan Sharpe, Rocky Elsom (capt), David Pocock, Ben McCalman.
Replacements: Saia Faingaa, James Slipper, Dean Mumm, Richard Brown, Luke Burgess, Berrick Barnes, Lachie Turner.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version