Rugby World Cup 2023: King hopeful Wales can 'repay fans' faith' against Wallabies
- Published
Rugby World Cup 2023: Wales like a "band of brothers" in Australia build-up - King
Rugby World Cup 2023: Wales v Australia |
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Venue: OL Stadium, Lyon Date: Sunday, 24 September Kick-off: 20:00 BST |
Coverage: Live BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds, BBC Sport website & app; live text commentary on BBC Sport website & app. |
Wales attack coach Alex King says he hopes his side can "repay fans' faith" with victory over Australia at the Rugby World Cup on Sunday.
Warren Gatland's side have secured bonus-point wins in their opening two Pool C games against Fiji and Portugal.
It means a win against Australia in Lyon would guarantee a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
"It's a tough tournament the World Cup. It's fantastic and the fans make it what it is," said King.
"We're two games down, two to go and hopefully something after that.
"Only two teams have got bonus-point wins from their first two games which is us and Ireland.
"That's testament to the hard work they've put in."
Australia have won one game against Georgia and lost 15-22 to Fiji in Saint-Etienne on Sunday.
A defeat by Wales this weekend would mean the Wallabies failing to reach the last eight at a World Cup for the first time in their history.
"They'll be hurting a little bit after the weekend," King said.
"We understand that it's pretty much do or die for them."
Wales' destiny is in their control as they need a maximum of seven points from two more games - against the Wallabies and Georgia - to guarantee winning the group.
If Wales defeat Australia, they will secure quarter-final qualification by definitely finishing in the top two in the pool.
That would maintain head coach Warren Gatland's impressive record of reaching the knockout phase in every World Cup campaign he has overseen for Wales.
Should they lose to Australia without collecting a bonus point, Wales' fate would be taken out of their hands as the pool stage progresses.
Any teams finishing on the same number of points at the end of the group stages would be separated by a series of criteria.
That starts with head-to-head results, before points difference, try difference, points scored and tries scored, in that order, come into play.
"That Fiji team is a strong team and it looks like they'll get 10 points from their last two games, they'll get up to 16 points," added King.
"So it's a case of how many points can we get. It was a huge challenge and it gives us massive confidence the fact that Australia couldn't quite do a job on Fiji and we did."
"It sets us up well in the pool, but ultimately this game is huge on Sunday for both countries."