Wales coach Warren Gatland expects an England backlash against Australia

Neutral: Kiwi Gatland will see his side progress if England lose, but can't bring himself to support Wallabies
(Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Warren Gatland left England fighting for their World Cup lives.

Now the Wales coach thinks the under-pressure hosts will use the hurt of their 28-25 defeat to his side six days ago to motivate them against Australia tomorrow.

While Wales took another step towards the last eight yesterday with a 23-13 win over Fiji, England were preparing for a game they cannot afford to lose.

England have been roundly criticised, with Stuart Lancaster’s tenure as coach being questioned and that of Chris Robshaw’s captaincy.

But Gatland said: “Sometimes when your backs are to the wall and you’re being criticised left, right and centre it galvanises you. This is a final for them.”

A defeat for England tomorrow would guarantee Wales their place in the quarter-finals but Kiwi Gatland (below) admitted he would not be wholeheartedly cheering for the Wallabies.

“It’s hard not to want them to win being entirely selfish about our own progress,” he said. “But it’s a bit hard for a Kiwi to be jumping up and cheering for the Aussies so I think I will be quite neutral this weekend.”

However, Pool A is so competitive that Wales, who top the table with 13 points, could still be knocked out despite winning all three of their games in this tournament so far.

Gatland said: “To think you can lose one game in this pool and miss out on a quarter-final berth — that’s how tough it is.”

Against Fiji, tries from Gareth Davies and Scott Baldwin and another 13 points from Dan Biggar, who maintained his 100 per cent kicking record in the tournament with 13 kicks from 13, made the difference between the two sides.

Wales now have more than a week to prepare for Australia, a side they have not beaten in their last 10 encounters, which have all been notable for how tight they have been.

Lock Alyn-Wyn Jones hit back at suggestions that he and his team-mates had a mental stumbling block when facing the Wallabies.

“You go back to the tour to Australia when we played three Tests and lost by 11 points over three games,” he said. “That was disappointing.

“Have we learned from it? Hopefully, yes. It will be a completely different game as it’s the World Cup, but we know the attacking threat they have.”

Gatland has overseen just one Wales victory over Australia — in his first game between the sides back in November 2008, when the hosts triumphed 21-18 in Cardiff.

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