Wales coach Warren Gatland says his side will have plenty of confidence going into Sunday's pivotal World Cup pool match against Australia and gave his view on the controversial Reece Hodge tackle after their win over Georgia.
The winner of Sunday's Wallabies-Wales match will almost certainly top Pool D and secure a quarter-final spot this weekend, potentially crossing over with France or England in the final eight.
Last year's 9-6 victory broke a decade-long drought for the Welsh against the Wallabies in a grinding Cardiff affair and came amid a Wales hot streak that culminated in the country winning the Six Nations.
Gatland said his team could take plenty from last year's match-up, but were wary of the up and down nature of a World Cup.
✍️ @rhys_patch and @LeighHalfpenny1 with some of the fans who stuck around after the final whistle in #RWCCityOfToyota. pic.twitter.com/VbhefE4Q8L
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏉 (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 23, 2019
"I think we can take a lot of confidence from that, they’re a tough side," he said.
"With teams at the top of international rugby you can have a really good performance… we saw the Australia play exceptionally well against the All Blacks in Perth, then they were well beaten the next week.
"That’s the way the modern game goes. We won a tight contest in the autumn last year.
"We’ve had some really tight games with them over the years.
"We’ve got to go into that game with a lot of confidence.
"We tend to get better as tournaments go on. We build on confidence."
3️⃣9️⃣ With his try tonight, @George_North became the leading international try-scorer at this @rugbyworldcup. He's also scored two more for @lionsofficial. #WALvGEO pic.twitter.com/r6e62CKtMf
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏉 (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 23, 2019
Gatland also gave his view on the Hodge tackle that left Fiji flanker Peceli Yato concussed.
Hodge will face a judiciary hearing in Tokyo on Wednesday at 3pm local time, 4pm AEST, to find out whether he will be cleared to play this weekend.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika voiced his frustrations on Monday at Fiji for referring the incident to the citing commissioner, saying it wasn't "in the spirit of the game".
"With the Reece Hodge tackle, it looks like he has made contact there to me but that is not my decision and the judiciary needs to make a call," Gatland said.
Gatland said Australia had shown their resilience in a win over Fiji last Saturday, in a comeback founded on set piece.
"I thought Australia soaked up a lot of pressure. Fiji came flying out of the blocks and were very impressive in that first half," he said.
"Australia managed the game exceptionally well, especially in the tight with the scrum and the driven lineout.
"Fiji looked like they were starting to tire and Australia soaked up a lot of initial pressure and came away in the second half."
Wales face the Wallabies on Sunday September 29, kicking off at 4:45pm local, 5:45pm AEST, LIVE on Foxtel, Network Ten and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO.
