Warren Gatland set to keep faith with hooker Ryan Elias and drop co-captain Dewi Lake to the bench as Wales boss recalls big guns for crunch World Cup clash against Australia

• Warren Gatland to recall his first-choice stars for Australia clash on Sunday
• Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Will Rowlands poised to return 
• Wales have concerns over Tommy Reffell, Henry Thomas and Leigh Halfpenny
• Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results

Warren Gatland will recall his first-choice stars on Friday for Wales’ crunch World Cup clash against Australia with Ryan Elias set to be preferred to co-captain Dewi Lake at hooker.

Wales head coach Gatland fielded a second-string side for his team’s 28-8 win over Portugal with Eddie Jones’ Wallabies in mind.

With a perfect record of 10 points from their two matches in France so far, Wales and Gatland know they will seal a quarter-final spot by beating Australia on Sunday.

For the Lyon clash, Gatland is poised to maintain faith with Elias in the No 2 jersey.

Lake, joint skipper of Wales at this World Cup with Jac Morgan, wasn’t considered for the opening Fiji win due to a lack of training time. He then captained Gatland’s team against Portugal.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland to recall his first-choice stars for Australia clash

Wales lost four of their 13 line-outs in their round two success with Lake starting and Elias on the bench. The pair are set to swap roles for Australia who are under severe pressure.

It means flanker Morgan – whose training load has been monitored this week – will captain Wales with Lake among the replacements.

Wallaby head coach Jones has taken pelters all week after Australia were beaten 22-15 by Fiji. A loss to Wales would virtually end the southern hemisphere side’s chances of making the quarter-finals.

Unlike Australia, who have lost captain Will Skelton and his fellow key forward Taniela Tupou to injury, Gatland’s squad is in a good place fitness wise.

Key men Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Will Rowlands – who all sat out Portugal – are poised to return for Australia.

Gatland’s only concerns are flanker Tommy Reffell, prop Henry Thomas and back Leigh Halfpenny.

Thomas is the only member of Wales’ 33-man World Cup party yet to play in France so far.

Ryan Elias set to be preferred to co-captain Dewi Lake at hooker in Sunday’s showdown

He had been slated to be involved against Portugal before suffering a hamstring injury.

Gatland will make a late call on the fitness of Thomas and Reffell. The former has been training with Wales this week while Leicester’s Reffell has worked separately to Gatland’s main group.

Reffell was a last-minute withdrawal from the Portugal game with a calf strain.

‘I’m feeling fresh now and ready to go again,’ said Wales loosehead prop Gareth Thomas, another who was rested for Portugal to be firing on all cylinders for Australia.

‘We know it’s going to be a big, physical contest and we’re looking forward to getting out there.’

Gareth Thomas would have likely faced up to Tupou in a head-to-head scrum battle had the Wallaby giant not fallen lame.

‘It doesn’t really make any difference to me whether they’re in or not,’ he said of Australia losing Tupou and Skelton. ‘We’ve got our heavies behind us. We’ve got plenty of power ourselves.’

 Key men Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Will Rowlands are poised to return

Former England head coach Jones has won just one of seven matches since returning to take charge of Australia. He has already said the Wales game is do-or-die for his team.

‘They’re always going to be dangerous,’ Gareth Thomas said of the Wallabies.

‘We wanted to come here with the mindset of winning all our pool games and nothing has changed for us from the start of this campaign.

‘Whether they (Australia) have won or lost, it doesn’t change anything for us. We take a lot of confidence from the Fiji and Portugal games and feel like we can only get better as well.’

Jones has come under criticism for his World Cup squad selection. He left out experienced pair Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper and selected only one specialist No 10.

Carter Gordon is the only out-and-out fly-half in Australia’s squad, but he is set to be left on the bench for the Wales game after being brutally substituted by Jones against Fiji.

Ben Donaldson looks set to start as Australia’s playmaker alongside Tate McDermott who is fit to face Gatland’s side after injury. Andrew Kellaway is likely to step in for Donaldson at full-back.

Gatland will make a late call on the fitness of Henry Thomas and Tommy Reffell (above)

Wales beat Australia in a crucial World Cup pool game in Japan in 2019 – a victory which ignited their campaign as Gatland’s side went on to reach the semi-finals.

‘Fiji outplayed us and credit to them,’ said Australia’s power centre Samu Kerevi.

‘Our discipline wasn’t great but we’ve unpacked that and moved on to Wales now. They’re pretty physical and have a great 10 and a great forward pack.

‘We didn’t play to our full potential last time. It’s always an important game against Wales. We’re really excited for this challenge to turn the tide on what happened last time.’

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