What have Wales got left to give? Their latest loss is Liam Williams, ruled out of the rest of the tournament because he suffered a foot injury during the match against Australia. Add him to the injury list, along with Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, and Cory Allen, Rhys Webb, Leigh Halfpenny, Hallam Amos and Eli Walker. Every one of them a back.
This World Cup has turned into a test of one of the few areas in which Wales were reckoned to be weak – their strength in depth. Given that, it’s testament to the extraordinary resilience of the squad that they have made it out of this implausibly difficult pool and into the quarter-finals. They play South Africa on Saturday, and right now they look, as one journalist said, a little like the Black Knight in the old movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, screaming “come on” at the opposition, though the fight has already cost them both arms and a leg.
Neil Jenkins described Williams as “a huge loss”, since he’s “been playing outstandingly well”. But then, as the assistant coach added: “We’ve had quite a few of them and we’ve just got to get on with it.”
Luke Charteris echoed those sentiments. “It is a massive blow for us because in the last 18 months he has been one of our best players, attacking-wise.” Like Jenkins, Charteris said this disappointment has become a pretty familiar feeling. “When one of your mates goes through all that work and misses out again it is a blow. Unfortunately, we are getting quite used to it now – losing our three-quarters and our backs. Every time that has happened someone has come in and they have done an awesome job. I have no doubt whoever steps in on the weekend will raise their game to those levels.”
It could have been worse. Jamie Roberts was also forced off after being hit in the head but seems set to be fit to play. Warren Gatland has given Roberts and the rest of his squad two days to recover from the defeat. They will need every minute of it. It was a brutal match, especially in the second half, when Wales threw everything they had to hand at the Australia line, but were beaten back over and again. “There were certainly a few sore bodies lying around this morning,” admitted Charteris on Sunday. “It was a very tough match. I said last week playing against Fiji, how physical they were and how tough a game that was. This one was a step up again.”
No sense stewing on the decisions made during the seven-minute spell in which Australia were down to 13 men. Captain Sam Warburton was right to spurn the shots at goal and go for the line given his side’s numerical advantage, and if Wales’ crash-ball tactics failed to break Australia, the style is so deeply ingrained that there’s no hope of – or sense in – changing it now. Besides, whereas Gatland’s Wales hadn’t beaten Australia since 2008, they did get the better of the Springboks the last time the two teams played, winning 12-6 at the Millennium Stadium last November.
Charteris reckoned Wales would take heart from that result. “Our defence was the difference that day,” Charteris said. “When you look back, whenever we have a big win our defence has usually been a massive part of that. That was the pleasing thing from last night that our defence was really good to hold that Australia team to no tries. Unfortunately a bit of indiscipline probably cost us.”
Wales did manage to slow down Australia’s possession, but it came at a cost. They conceded nine penalties in their own half, and Bernard Foley kicked five of them.
As for Gatland, he will likely spend the recovery time figuring out how, exactly, he is going to patch together a backline for a match that promises to be every bit as a ferocious as the one just gone. It seems likely he will switch George North back from the centre to the wing, and bring in either James Hook or the rookie Tyler Morgan. Hook has only started one Test in the last two years: the warm-up match against Ireland in August. Morgan, 20, has played two Tests in his entire career: that same game, and the pool match against Fiji. In fact, it wasn’t so long ago that Morgan took down the poster of Hook which he used to keep on his bedroom wall.
Thing is, whichever team Wales put out, they will still push South Africa to the limit. Whether it will be enough is a different question but as Australia coach Michael Cheika said on Saturday evening: “I’m not into the crystal ball, but one thing is for sure they’ll make their country proud.”
- This article was amended on 13 October 2015. It originally stated that Gatland’s Wales had never beaten Australia. They beat them in 2008. This has been corrected.
