Neil Jenkins looks for Wales to end wait

Neil Jenkins says Wales will have “no excuses” if they do not achieve their goal of ending a 25-year wait for a victory over a Tri Nations team away from home when they open their three-match series against Australia in Brisbane this morning.

The 22-21 win over the Wallabies in the third-placed play-off game in Rotorua at the 1987 World Cup was the last time Wales managed to beat one of the three southern hemisphere super-powers on foreign soil. The only other one is on 21 June, 1969, when Wales beat the Aussies 19-16 in Sydney. Jenkins said: “The players have had a good week to prepare and we’re in pretty good shape. There are no excuses for Saturday.”

Jenkins is expecting a backlash from the hosts after their 9-6 loss to Scotland earlier in the week. “We are expecting Australia to come out all guns firing, especially after their very disappointing result against Scotland on Tuesday,” he said. “I’m just hoping we can match them in that way.”

Australia: A Ashley-Cooper; C Vuna, R Horne, P McCabe, D Ioane; B Barnes, W Genia; B Robinson, T Polota-Nau, S Kepu, R Simmons, N Sharpe, S Higginbotham, D Pocock, W Palu. Subs: S Moore, B Alexander, D Dennis, M Hooper, N White, A Fainga’a, M Harris.

Wales: L Halfpenny (Cardiff); A Cuthbert (Cardiff), J Davies (Scarlets), S Williams (Scarlets), G North (Scarlets); R Priestland (Scarlets), M Phillips (Bayonne); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), K Owens (Scarlets), A Jones (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff), L Charteris (Dragons), D Lydiate (Dragons), S Warburton (Cardiff, captain), T Faletau (Dragons). Subs: M Rees (Scarlets), P James (Ospreys), A Wyn Jones (Ospreys), R Jones (Ospreys), L Williams (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Perpignan), A Beck (Ospreys).