Wales must beat southern nations: Warburton

Or Ben Smith or JP Peterson

Good argument; but I wouldn't have George North in my World XV until I see him outplay Bryan Habana and Julian Savea.

I hope you're right Birdy, but those pesky Aussies have a way of coming back and biting those expectations on the a*^+. IF Australia can get their best XV on the pitch, then they would be a match for anyone IMO, however that best XV would certainly include some players playing in Europe, who aren't likely to play for the Wallabies anytime soon, if ever again.

Me thinks the 2nd coming will happen before Wales beats the ABs, Manu Samoa fan 1, All Black fan 2 SH fan 3

Given that I'm English, you can imagine that I'm not a big fan of Welsh rugby. However, many of the Aussie comments on here are simply delusional. For a long time now (most of this century) the NH teams have not considered a win againt the Wallabies as being anywhere near as signficant as a win against the ABs (which virtually none of them have managed); or the Sprinkboks - particularly this vintage. When the four championship sides tour the order of merit in terms of what a win for a NH side would mean is ABs; Springboks; and then a gap to Aussies; and Argies. Wales on paper (I know this isn't where games are played) are becoming formidable. As an example, no Aussie player would get anywhere near a World XV (since Genia's loss of form). I would make two Wales players certainties (Adam Jones and George North); one a probable (Leigh Halfpenny) and one a strong possible (Jamie Roberts). The rule of thumb to be favourite to win a world cup is at least five players in a World XV. The Aussies are not particularly highly rated at the moment, but particularly signficant, their potential, outside Oz, is not highly rated. There seems to be a view in Oz that this is the low point for the Wallabies and that there will be an inevitable rise to some sort of apparently 'normal' level of excellence (presumably some point before the year 2000). I would argue that Wales, England and France have more potential and that, whatever the results in the next few weeks. all these teams will be stronger than the Aussies in 2015.

Stop making sense Tane! This is a forum populated by people who have a very polarised view of the Wallabies. Winning the 2011 3 Nations was a major achievement regardless of other teams resting players. That competition resulted in a final v NZ, which was a great performance and certainly cannot be regarded as "irrelevant". Ask any ex Wallaby if there is such a thing as a dead rubber when playing the ABs.

When it comes to hype wales are no worse than anybody else. The wallabies had we can cut any team to pieces, south Africa wait until..... whatever, wales if we had got into the 2011 RWC final, we would have won, NZ has we are the best team on the planet Ok that last one is more fact than hype . :-) so they are just like everybody else.

The 2011 3N is pretty much irrelevant because of the weakened sides fielded. The same applies to the tournament in 2007. And their WC placing isn't much to shout about. From memory the majority of Australian Roarers were massively underwhelmed by a) the style of play espoused, b) the fact that the midfield and captain was changed so close to the WC, c) the group loss to Ireland, and b) the fact that SA basically smashed them versus the refereeing of Bryce Lawrence. 2012... A draw with NZ in a dead rubber match. Congrats. Three sneaked home wins over Wales - a side regularly derided on this site, and a touch and go win over England. Is that how success is measured? Just about easing to wins over sides ranked lower than you? If you want to be accurate then you'd include the 33-6 thrashing to France, being nilled by NZ and the 31-8 thrashing in SA. I think you should pay more attention to what Australian Roarers write on this site as opposed to throwing out a number of cherry picked results. It has not been a happy few years for Australian rugby.

I didn't see any of that hype. Literally have no idea what you're talking about.

Who said the Welsh consider themselves a powerhouse in rugby? I don't think I've ever read that.

Since 2010? 2011: 3 nations champions after beating NZ once and the Boks twice. Gain number 2 ranking after coming 3rd at the WC and beating SA and Wales. 2012: 2nd in 4 nations. Draw with NZ. Win over SA. 4 Wins over Wales. Win over Eng. Mediocre? So is NZ the only team that hasnt been mediocre because nobody in the world besides NZ has been better than Aus in 2011 & 2012 except for perhaps SA.

which begs the question...why do the welsh considers themselves a powerhouse in rugby? decent sides win games they are expected to win, good teams win more games than they lose... great sides never lose games they shoud'nt

"Wales wouldn’t take too much satisfaction from beating them" you saw the hype that was created after this years lions tour and just before the 2011 WC. Fans and so called rugby experts and the ideas they get is simply amazing. Definition of hype.

Believe their own hype... That sounds familiar. Over the past 2 seasons Australia have recently beaten Wales by 2 points, 1 point, 2 points, 8 points, 6 points and 3 points so there's clearly not an overwhelming gulf between the 2 sides. I would imagine that given how mediocre Australia have been since 2010 that Wales wouldn't take too much satisfaction from beating them,

even if Wales do manage to beat Australia-they know at the back of thier minds that it was the weakest Wallaby sides in over a decade. I can only imagine the hype that will be generated if it did happen..."Wales world cup favourites"..."we are one of the contenders" etc. Wales have always been the team that live in thier own hype then they always get thier dose of reality when the SH teams turn up and put them in thier place...then the same cycle occurs year and year.

I think the confidence the Welsh contingent got out of the Lions series will stand th in good stead, they will beat the Wallabies but not the Boks and ABs, Enhland and IrelNd will also beat the Wallabies and Scotland and Italy will come close, maybe even win!!

Wales have put in 1 good performance out of the past 11 Tests. If they can't win at least 1 game against the SH sides after the Lions tour then they're in trouble. This is make or break for Gatland. They also have a habit of dropping games they shouldn't - losing to Japan, Argentina, Samoa and drawing with Fiji.

I really wouldn't underestimate this Wales team. Whilst their results against the big SH nations have been generally poor, they have been improving all the time. If you were to compare Wales on paper now, compared to Aus, SA and NZ, the only team they would suffer in comparison with is NZ and not by a huge margin. However, as we all know, test matches are not played on paper. Wales need to overcome any lingering mental doubts in order to start beating their nemeses from the south. (I await derision from all and sundry) :)

Australia vs northern hems is a like a return clash from june... Will be interesting to watch IMO.

the last time Wales beat New Zealand was in 1953. The Wales tour in Australia last year, I thought the matches were pretty close, Wallabies were lucky to win 3-nil