Gatland insists Wales will remain grounded after thrashing Australia

09/25/2023 Soccer

Warren Gatland insists Wales will not get ahead of themselves after thrashing Australia to seal their spot in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, as he hails his team’s ‘clinical’ display

  • Wales thrashed Australia on Sunday night to make it three wins from three
  • The victory sealed their place in the quarter-finals of the tournament
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  • Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results

Warren Gatland says Wales will not start looking further down the track than necessary after they cruised into the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a record 40-6 win against hapless Australia.

Wales made it three successive victories in Pool C, leaving Eddie Jones’ team close to group-stage elimination.

Gatland’s men are guaranteed to top the group if they defeat Georgia next month, setting up a likely quarter-final clash against Argentina in Marseille.

But Gatland said: ‘We haven’t looked past anything yet, it has been one game at a time.

‘Australia came into this game feeling confident about winning. We felt confident to produce a performance today. I thought we were clinical.

Wales hammered Australia on Sunday night to book their place in the World Cup quarter-finals

Warren Gatland praised his team’s ‘clinical’ display, but is adamant the players will not get ahead of themselves

Sunday’s win was particularly sweet for Gatland as he got one over his old adversary Eddie Jones (left)

‘Our focus will be on Georgia, a team we lost against in the autumn (last year).

‘We need to rectify that and we need to make sure we don’t drop our standards. I think these players are well aware of that – they have worked incredibly hard.

‘We have put a lot of work in the last four months as a team together. We are a momentum team, we build on confidence in terms of performances.

‘Today was an outstanding performance in terms of what we wanted to achieve. We were blowing a bit at half-time, but I thought we went out and controlled the second half fantastically well.’

Wales overcame the early loss of injured fly-half Dan Biggar to boss Australia in every key department and coast home through tries from scrum-half Gareth Davies, centre Nick Tompkins and captain Jac Morgan, while Biggar, who kicked an early conversion, saw his replacement Gareth Anscombe boot 23 points.

It was Wales’ record win against Australia, overtaking a 25-point margin in 1975, and former England boss Jones will be left to face the music as the Wallabies lurch towards World Cup oblivion.

On Biggar, Gatland added: ‘Dan has stretched his pec. I haven’t spoken to the medics, but I spoke to Dan and they are saying it is probably a couple of weeks.

‘We have got 13 days’ break before we take on Georgia, so that potentially rules him out of that match, just to recover. It’s not a significant injury, just a pec strain.’

Gatland played down concerns about Dan Biggar after the fly-half suffered a pec strain 

Biggar’s replacement Gareth Anscombe (pictured) proved he is an able deputy by kicking 23 points on Sunday night

Anscombe, who landed six penalties, a drop-goal and conversion after going on for Biggar in the 12th minute, said: ‘We talked a lot this week about family and the people we care about.

‘We talk about the red wall, and to concede only six points against Australia is just remarkable.

‘Dan Biggar means so much to this team, and I knew I had to just come on and do my role, and that was all I was focused on.

‘The boys were really calm and we got off to a really good start. Our boys up-front were outstanding, they dominated the set-piece and I was just able to keep rolling forward.’

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