Poor Wales doomed to repeat failures against Australia

There’s no escaping the fact that Wales are in an absolutely dire run of form and that their ‘march’ to the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup now looks very much like a false dawn.

In all honesty, their World Cup campaign only consisted of one really good victory over Ireland. The rest of their wins were fully expected and, when properly tested against South Africa, France and Australia (in the third place play-off) they fell short.

Meanwhile, their Six Nations Grand Slam victory in the spring was due as much to the poor form of their fellow Northern Hemisphere sides as their own excellence.

So their dreadful run of results – whilst coming as something of a surprise – shouldn’t be a huge shock to anyone, especially considering their arm-length injury list.

They’ve been dispatched by Argentina, Samoa and New Zealand already in their autumn Tests and a punt on them to end their run of six straight losses with a win against the Aussies looks far too short at 11/8.

Warren Gatland’s men have played Australia five times in the space of 13 months and lost every single encounter.

In fact, their record against Southern Hemisphere teams in general is absolutely appalling. In the 50 games they’ve played against teams from south of the equator in the professional era they’ve lost a massive 46 times.

There’s even worse news for Wales with David Pocock back in the tourists’ team, with the inspirational open-side winning all seven of the games he’s already played against Wales.

Normally points betting is the best way to cash in on a game such as this but, with Australia a very decent 8/13 for the straight win, that undoubtedly looks like the bet to lump on.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date