{"id":291530,"date":"2023-09-21T19:39:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T19:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=291530"},"modified":"2023-09-21T19:39:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T19:39:27","slug":"wales-boss-gatland-recalls-big-guns-for-crunch-clash-against-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/rugby-union\/wales-boss-gatland-recalls-big-guns-for-crunch-clash-against-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales boss Gatland recalls big guns for crunch clash against Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Warren Gatland set to keep faith with hooker Ryan Elias and drop co-captain\u00a0Dewi Lake to the bench as Wales boss recalls big guns for crunch World Cup clash against Australia<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Warren Gatland to recall his first-choice stars for Australia clash on Sunday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Will Rowlands poised to return\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Wales have concerns over Tommy Reffell, Henry Thomas and Leigh Halfpenny<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Warren Gatland will recall his first-choice stars on Friday for Wales\u2019 crunch World Cup clash against Australia with Ryan Elias set to be preferred to co-captain Dewi Lake at hooker.<\/p>\n<p>Wales head coach Gatland fielded a second-string side for his team\u2019s 28-8 win over Portugal with Eddie Jones\u2019 Wallabies in mind.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>For the Lyon clash, Gatland is poised to maintain faith with Elias in the No 2 jersey.<\/p>\n<p>Lake, joint skipper of Wales at this World Cup with Jac Morgan, wasn\u2019t considered for the opening Fiji win due to a lack of training time. He then captained Gatland\u2019s team against Portugal.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/21\/16\/75691055-0-image-a-1_1695310264393.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wales head coach\u00a0Warren Gatland to recall his first-choice stars for Australia clash<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>It means flanker Morgan \u2013 whose training load has been monitored this week \u2013 will captain Wales with Lake among the replacements.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s chances of making the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Australia, who have lost captain Will Skelton and his fellow key forward Taniela Tupou to injury, Gatland\u2019s squad is in a good place fitness wise.<\/p>\n<p>Key men Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Will Rowlands \u2013 who all sat out Portugal \u2013 are poised to return for Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Gatland\u2019s only concerns are flanker Tommy Reffell, prop Henry Thomas and back Leigh Halfpenny.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas is the only member of Wales\u2019 33-man World Cup party yet to play in France so far.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/21\/16\/75691077-0-image-a-2_1695310326666.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ryan Elias set to be preferred to co-captain Dewi Lake at hooker in Sunday&#8217;s showdown<\/p>\n<p>He had been slated to be involved against Portugal before suffering a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n<p>Gatland will make a late call on the fitness of Thomas and Reffell. The former has been training with Wales this week while Leicester\u2019s Reffell has worked separately to Gatland\u2019s main group.<\/p>\n<p>Reffell was a last-minute withdrawal from the Portugal game with a calf strain.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019m feeling fresh now and ready to go again,\u2019 said Wales loosehead prop Gareth Thomas, another who was rested for Portugal to be firing on all cylinders for Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We know it\u2019s going to be a big, physical contest and we\u2019re looking forward to getting out there.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Gareth Thomas would have likely faced up to Tupou in a head-to-head scrum battle had the Wallaby giant not fallen lame.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It doesn\u2019t really make any difference to me whether they\u2019re in or not,\u2019 he said of Australia losing Tupou and Skelton. \u2018We\u2019ve got our heavies behind us. We\u2019ve got plenty of power ourselves.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/21\/16\/75691087-0-image-a-3_1695310385827.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Key men Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Will Rowlands are poised to return<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018They&#8217;re always going to be dangerous,\u2019 Gareth Thomas said of the Wallabies.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Whether they (Australia) have won or lost, it doesn&#8217;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.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Carter Gordon is the only out-and-out fly-half in Australia\u2019s squad, but he is set to be left on the bench for the Wales game after being brutally substituted by Jones against Fiji.<\/p>\n<p>Ben Donaldson looks set to start as Australia\u2019s playmaker alongside Tate McDermott who is fit to face Gatland\u2019s side after injury. Andrew Kellaway is likely to step in for Donaldson at full-back.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/21\/18\/75696173-12545987-image-a-14_1695316713871.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Gatland will make a late call on the fitness of Henry Thomas and Tommy Reffell (above)<\/p>\n<p>Wales beat Australia in a crucial World Cup pool game in Japan in 2019 \u2013 a victory which ignited their campaign as Gatland\u2019s side went on to reach the semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Fiji outplayed us and credit to them,\u2019 said Australia\u2019s power centre Samu Kerevi.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Our discipline wasn\u2019t great but we\u2019ve unpacked that and moved on to Wales now. They\u2019re pretty physical and have a great 10 and a great forward pack.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We didn\u2019t play to our full potential last time. It\u2019s always an important game against Wales. We\u2019re really excited for this challenge to turn the tide on what happened last time.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12545987\/Warren-Gatland-set-faith-hooker-Ryan-Elias-drop-captain-Dewi-Lake-bench-Wales-boss-recalls-big-guns-crunch-World-Cup-clash-against-Australia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Warren Gatland set to keep faith with hooker Ryan Elias and drop co-captain\u00a0Dewi 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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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