The Wallabies are bracing for Wales to be breathing fire after they enlisted the help of old foe England to attempt to stop their losing streak at 12 when they meet in Cardiff next Saturday.
The Welsh haven’t beaten Australia since 2008, with last year’s 32-8 victory loss their heaviest in that time.
Traditional adversaries Wales and England decided to break with tradition and unite in their attempt to thwart the southern hemisphere sides by arranging a contested training session to improve their scrummaging and lineouts.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said it was a sign the Welsh would be well prepared, but so would be his side after warming up with a 63-30 thrashing of Japan.
“They’re obviously getting ready; I know they’re having the opposed training session with England so they’re getting themselves ready for our arrival,” Cheika said.
While he pinpointed areas such as goal-line defence, urgency at the breakdown as areas for improvement, Cheika was pleased with their performance against Japan.
The coach was delighted after regular five-eighth Bernard Foley was ruled out through injury and utility back Reece Hodge blooded in the position.
“We had moments that were really good and moments that were less effective but we’ve had a huge week where we’ve lost players and we’ve travelled overseas to a new place,” Cheika said.
“We managed the first part of the game really well, which got us into a position where we could try some new combinations so it was a good entree into the rest of the tour.”
Cheika wasn’t bothered with Wales’ plans and said his team were purely focused on finding consistency throughout matches and then through the tour, with Tests against Scotland and England to follow.
They are on the way with the Japan win their sixth game without a loss.
“We really want to try to get a mindset that’s consistent so we always knows how to put ourselves in a position to win.
“We’ve played good games, we’ve had some highs and lows but we want to get more consistent.”
He felt that could be seen against Japan, despite them losing some shape when the bench emptied on to the field during the second half.
“The thing about Japan, when we got our to a bit of a score we didn’t just start doing anything that was out of what we’d normally do because that’s what we’ve got to do in the games that are a bit tighter.”
Foley, Will Genia (calf) and Karmichael Hunt (neck) are all expected to be available for the Millennium Stadium clash while Cheika was impressed with what Samu Kerevi and Curtis Rona offered from off the bench.
