This Wales Side Have Got Cheika Worried

I LIKE where Wales are at going into this morning’s game with Australia – not just for facing the Wallabies but for the rest of the Pool stages too.

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My view is that they have got inside Michael Cheika’s head. Australia have picked a team to counteract Wales’ strengths and I’m not sure that has ever happened before.

The challenge now is to capitalise on that. Whenever the southern hemisphere giants have played Wales in the past they would not have worried too much about them.

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa would have paid them respect of course, but deep down they would also be thinking that if they play to their best, they will win regardless of what opposition turns up.

Now things are different. This is a different Wales side. We all know how good they are. For this morning’s game I was surprised to see Australia change their half-backs. Nic White and Christian Lealiifano had been starting, but now Will Genia and Bernard Foley are back in.

Kurtley Beale has also been moved to the bench with Dane Haylett-Petty at full-back. I know Cheika had to make at least one change due to Reece Hodge’s suspension, but to me the Australian selection clearly shows they have picked a side to counteract Dan Biggar’s kicking game. HaylettPetty is there for that exact reason as he is a solid defensive operator.

This is unchartered territory for Wales and I’m intrigued to see how they react. Wales need to keep the Wallabies guessing.

What Cheika’s men will be expecting is for Dan to boot a lot of possession away and for Wales to play the percentages early on. It would surprise them if Wales play with tempo and try a running game. If they do that, they could get some very early rewards as they did against Georgia.

Australia are, of course, a much tougher team to break down than Georgia, but the element of surprise is the key here. Clearly you don’t want to get involved in an end-to-end game of Sevens with any southern hemisphere side, but Wales need to be bold and brave on the biggest of stages.