{"id":93602,"date":"2023-09-25T08:20:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T08:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/?p=93602"},"modified":"2023-09-25T08:20:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T08:20:48","slug":"gatland-insists-wales-will-remain-grounded-after-thrashing-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/soccer\/gatland-insists-wales-will-remain-grounded-after-thrashing-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Gatland insists Wales will remain grounded after thrashing Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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.<\/p>\n
Wales made it three successive victories in Pool C, leaving Eddie Jones’ team close to group-stage elimination.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But Gatland said: ‘We haven’t looked past anything yet, it has been one game at a time.<\/p>\n
‘Australia came into this game feeling confident about winning. We felt confident to produce a performance today. I thought we were clinical.<\/p>\n
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Wales hammered Australia on Sunday night to book their place in the World Cup quarter-finals<\/p>\n
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Warren Gatland praised his team’s ‘clinical’ display, but is adamant the players will not get ahead of themselves<\/p>\n
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Sunday’s win was particularly sweet for Gatland as he got one over his old adversary Eddie Jones (left)<\/p>\n
‘Our focus will be on Georgia, a team we lost against in the autumn (last year).<\/p>\n
‘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.<\/p>\n
‘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.<\/p>\n
‘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.’<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
‘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.’<\/p>\n
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Gatland played down concerns about Dan Biggar after the fly-half suffered a pec strain\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Biggar’s replacement Gareth Anscombe (pictured) proved he is an able deputy by kicking 23 points on Sunday night<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
‘We talk about the red wall, and to concede only six points against Australia is just remarkable.<\/p>\n
‘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.<\/p>\n
‘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.’<\/p>\n