TOKYO AFP Australia face Six Nations champions Wales at Tokyo on Sunday in a crunch World Cup Pool D match.
The battle of the breakdown - The super ‘Pooper’ combination of Michael Hooper and David Pocock has justifiably seen the pair’s names etched in as two of the finest backrow players in modern rugby union.
They shine in the loose, scrapping for the ball at the breakdown to stunning effect.
They will come up against Justin Tipuric and Josh Navidi, Aaron Wainwright completing a Wales backrow that will be pushed to their limits at Tokyo Stadium.
“We’re pretty happy with our loose forwards in terms of their ball carrying and physicality, they’re all capable of playing 6, 7 or 8, pretty similar to Australia,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said.
Gatland credited his team’s superior kicking game as key to November’s defence-dominated 9-6 victory over Australia, a win that bucked a decade-long, 13-match winning streak for the Wallabies.
Fly-half Dan Biggar is a master of the kick and chase, but Australia coach Michael Cheika has brought in experienced half-backs Will Genia and Bernard Foley as well as Dane Haylett-Petty at full-back in place of Kurtley Beale to better combat what is expected to be a more kicking-focused gameplan.
“We know that Wales are a very strong team, we’re going to have to be on for 80 minutes to have success against them -- we’ve picked a team we think will do that,” said Cheika.