Wales are in good spirits after qualifying for the quarter-finals with Australia still to play this Saturday at Twickenham, even if some of their players believe their hotel a few miles from the home of English rugby is haunted.
Sightings of the so-called “grey lady” have been reported at the Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge in the past, while room 1313 on the third floor has a history of guests reporting extreme temperature changes. “A few of the boys think they have seen a ghost and it is probably best to stay away from room 1313,” said the prop Samson Lee. “Some of them reckon they have seen Henry VIII. It has been discussed at meal times and Dan Lydiate is not happy about it. He says he has seen a ghost but I think he is dreaming. He had a bang on the head and that might be the problem.”
At least the spectre of early elimination from the World Cup is not haunting the 2011 semi-finalists after England’s defeat by the Wallabies last Saturday, but there will be no let-up in training this week as they look to top the pool and earn a quarter-final against Scotland, or Japan, rather than South Africa.
The full-back Liam Williams, who missed last week’s victory over Fiji because of concussion, has resumed training while continuing to go through the return-to-play protocols and the loosehead prop Paul James, who suffered a calf injury during Wales’ first group match against Uruguay, is expected to be fit for selection.
“Liam is ticking all the boxes,” said the forwards coach, Robin McBryde. “Paul has come through a running test and will take part in our two training sessions on Tuesday, and Dan and Bradley Davies are a bit battered but fine.
“Our performance against Fiji was not perfect but we go into the game against Australia having had time to work on things and we are looking forward to the challenge. The reaction to the result on Saturday night was not relief but a quickening of the heartbeat thinking about what could be ahead.
“It would be wrong to say we felt sorry for England because we were competing with them but I can imagine they are coming under pressure in the media and that stuff is not justified. I hope they do not throw the ball out with the bath water.”
When Wales last played against Australia, 11 months ago in Cardiff, they dominated the scrum and were awarded a penalty try but the Wallabies – who won 33-28 on that occasion, have since improved in the set piece and only two of the pack that started that day are likely to be in Saturday’s XV, three if the flanker Michael Hooper avoids a ban after being cited for smashing into Mike Brown at a ruck on Saturday.
“We will take confidence from the way our scrum went against Australia last time but they have an Argentinian flavour to the set piece now through their scrummaging coach, Mario Ledesma,” said McBryde. “We always strive to be as legal as possible and, while Fiji put us under pressure, they did the same to England and Australia. We will have to be smart and under the current laws it has gone back to the art of scrummaging. You need a different approach and mindset.”
Australia have won their last 10 matches against Wales but their outside-half, Bernard Foley, who scored 28 points against England,, including two tries, believes it will be another close encounter. “Wales are a side of quality that has the ability to stay in games,” he said. “England couldn’t shake them and matches against them usually go down to the final 10 minutes. They will challenge us in different ways to England and you can never relax against them because their outside backs can hurt you.”
