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Wales' major blow and 4 other talking points ahead of second Test
By PA
Wales will have another chance to try and end their long losing run when they tackle Australia in Melbourne on Saturday.
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A week after Australia took the first Test 25-16, Wales will aim to tie the series and claim a first international scalp since the 2023 World Cup.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the key talking points heading into the game.
Wales lurching towards unwanted record
It is 21 years since Wales suffered 10 successive Test match defeats – their worst losing run in 143 years of playing international rugby. But they are moving ever closer to matching that sequence, and it will be nine on the bounce if Australia triumph this weekend. That would represent the longest number of matches without a Test win during head coach Warren Gatland’s association with Wales that began in 2008, ended 11 years later and then resumed ahead of the 2023 Six Nations. Their record against Australia Down Under doesn’t offer hope, either, with 12 defeats in a row and no victory since 1969.
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Aaron Wainwright absence a major blow
Amid Wales’ prolonged struggle, number eight Wainwright has shone like a beacon through one outstanding display after another. He marked his 50th cap in Sydney last weekend by producing a performance that put him head and shoulder above any of his team-mates – then it all went wrong. Wainwright suffered a hamstring injury during the closing minutes, ruling him out of the tour remainder and potentially serious enough to mean several weeks’ sidelined. There can be little doubt that when it rains, it pours for Wales at the moment. Losing Wainwright is a setback from which they might not recover from.
Wales pack lacking experience
Australia captain James Slipper has 135 Test caps – 23 more than the entire Wales pack on Saturday. Their combined total is just 112, including only 35 in the back-row where a reshuffled unit sees Taine Plumtree switched to number eight instead of Wainwright and James Botham starting at blindside flanker. Wales encountered problems at scrum and lineout time during the first Test, which are two areas that will require considerable improvement if they are to have any chance of avoiding a 2-0 series defeat. Australia’s forwards are not the most fearsome in world rugby, and Wales must at least gain parity up-front.
Can Botham hit Australia for six?
James Botham will hope to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather – cricket great Sir Ian Botham – when he features at AAMI Park. It was 38 years ago, barely a five-minute walk away, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that Sir Ian played a major role in England retaining the Ashes. The 1986 Boxing Day Test saw him take five first-innings wickets as Australia collapsed to 141 all out, and England went on to win by an innings inside three days, giving them a 2-0 series lead with one game left. James will certainly not lack any inspiration, and maybe it will turn out to be another memorable Botham family day.
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What is next for Wales?
After the Test match business on their Australia tour concludes this weekend, Wales do not play another international team until Fiji arrive at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in November. That game launches an autumn schedule also featuring Australia and world champions South Africa, before Wales embark on a testing Six Nations campaign which begins against France in Paris. Their Six Nations record across the past three seasons is abysmal – two wins and 13 defeats – and three of their games next season are away from home. In short, things might get a whole lot worse before they start to get any better.
