Wales have delayed their team announcement for Saturday’s match against Australia by 48 hours to give injured players more time to recover, especially the full-back Liam Williams, who is receiving treatment for strained ankle ligaments.
Wales are already without two of their Lions back row through injury. The No8 Taulupe Faletau has been out since the opening weekend of the season with knee-ligament damage while the national captain, Sam Warburton, who had an operation on a fractured cheekbone in September and had his comeback delayed by a neck problem, was released back to his region Cardiff Blues last weekend.
Wales hope Warburton will be available to face Argentina at the Principality Stadium next week and will decide in the next two days who will take over the captaincy on Saturday. The flanker Dan Lydiate did so when Wales played England at Twickenham in May while the forwards Alun Wyn Jones and Gethin Jenkins have also led their country.
“Sam should be fit for Argentina and we have released him to the Blues so he can get some game-time,” said Shaun Edwards, the Wales defence coach. “We will leave it until the last minute to decide on Liam’s fitness. He has improved since last week and we hope he will play against Australia. He will definitely play some part in the series.”
Wales have lost their past 11 matches against Australia in a run stretching back to 2008 and have never won more than two of their four games in a November series. They have set themselves the target of finishing the month in the top four of the world rankings before next May’s World Cup pool draw.
“Since the rankings started we have only been in the top four for 4% of the time,” said Edwards. “Australia are a good side and should not be judged against New Zealand, who are some way ahead of everyone at this moment. They have players of real quality and I do not think I have seen such an outstanding performance in defeat as the one Bernard Foley gave against the All Blacks the other week.”
Wales have tended to start campaigns slowly as players adjust to the step up from the regional game and they have tweaked their training regime to be ready for the Wallabies. “We are not training for as long as we have in the last couple of years but we are still getting an increase in intensity,” said the centre Jonathan Davies. “It’s about us going into Saturday fresh.”
