LYON, France (AP) — Wales restored the lineup which started the win against Fiji to face Australia on Sunday with a chance to reach the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.
Beating Australia after wins against Fiji and Portugal would advance Wales from Pool C to the last eight.
“I expect us to win on Sunday,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said. “Experience will hopefully play a big part in that. We've trained well this week. We've been clear on what we want to achieve. We haven’t been at our best so far.”
Defeat for Australia, which has beaten Georgia and lost to Fiji, would send it closer to a pool stage exit for the first time.
“We're alive. All you've got to be is alive, and if we beat Wales on Sunday we're alive,” Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said.
“We were always going to get this game at some stage. It's come a little bit earlier than we thought it would, so we’ve got an opportunity to show on Sunday whether we can fight and get the result we need to get. I'm confident we can.”
Gatland rested most of his front-liners after Fiji was edged 32-26 for the game against Portugal, a scratchy 28-8 win.
“We felt that the team against Fiji did what we asked,” Gatland said. “I don't think we've got enough credit for that Fiji game. I was really pleased with that performance. It was the highest ball-in-play time and we were in control for 65 minutes.”
Captain and flanker Jac Morgan, No. 8 Taulupe Faletau and wing Louis Rees-Zammit will make their third straight starts.
Wales made its only changes in the reserves, with recalls for prop Henry Thomas, who will make his Rugby World Cup debut, flanker Taine Basham and flyhalf Gareth Anscombe.
Ben Donaldson and Tate McDermott will start as Australia's halves for the first time in the must-win match.
The Wallabies made three changes and two positional moves on Friday following their first loss to Fiji in 69 years last Sunday in Saint-Etienne.
Donaldson was switched from fullback to flyhalf in place of Carter Gordon, the team's only specialist 10. Gordon was yanked in the 50th minute against Fiji and Donaldson took over to finish off the match.
Donaldson's only previous test start at flyhalf was against Wales last November, which was his starting debut.
Gordon was in the reserves after starting the Wallabies' last five tests.
“Carter's had an opportunity, struggled a bit against Fiji, and I thought he was best to finish the game for us,” Jones said. “With young players you've got to have a feel of where they are. Sometimes you need to back them, sometimes you need to pull them away a little bit. At the moment we feel like it's best to pull him away a little bit.”
McDermott missed the Fiji match due to a head injury and was back at scrumhalf, bumping Nic White to the reserves.
Andrew Kellaway was at fullback for his Rugby World Cup debut and Rob Leota promoted from the bench into the back row while Fraser McReight went to the bench.
Tighthead prop James Slipper will equal George Gregan as Australia's most capped Rugby World Cup player in his 20th match.
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Lineups:
Australia: Andrew Kellaway, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Jordan Petaia, Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete, Ben Donaldson, Tate McDermott; Rob Valetini, Tom Hooper, Rob Leota, Richard Arnold, Nick Frost, James Slipper, David Porecki (captain), Angus Bell. Reserves: Matt Faessler, Blake Schoupp, Pone Fa'amausili, Matt Philip, Fraser McReight, Nic White, Carter Gordon, Suliasi Vunivalu.
Wales: Liam Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit, George North, Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams, Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Taulupe Faletau, Jac Morgan (captain), Aaron Wainwright, Adam Beard, Will Rowlands, Tomas Francis, Ryan Elias, Gareth Thomas. Reserves: Elliot Dee, Corey Domachowski, Henry Thomas, Dafydd Jenkins, Taine Basham, Tomos Williams, Gareth Anscombe, Rio Dyer.
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AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
