Wales will head to the 2019 World Cup as Grand Slam champions and brimming with confidence. However they face a potentially tricky pool with a former champion in Australia, a Fijian side packed with talent, not to mention a Georgian team looking to build on their best-ever World Cup result four years ago. Even Uruguay, ranked 19 in the world, have enjoyed some strong recent results with wins over the USA and Canada among others. However it is Australia who stand out as the most obvious challenger for the Welsh. The champions in 1991 and 1999 have made it to the semi-finals in all bar two editions of the tournament. We will have an even better idea of where they stand after this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup clash with New Zealand, but the Wallabies always seem to be able to raise their game at World Cups, as evidenced by reaching the final four years ago. MAIN MEN Michael Hooper will captain the side and at just 27, he is already one of the game’s most experienced back-rowers. With David Pocock still on the comeback trail from injury, the other interesting development in the Wallaby back row has been the emergence of Isi Naisarani, the powerful Rebels No.8 who has made the immediate step-up to international level this season. Elsewhere in the pack, Australia have a pair of top-class tightheads in Sekope Kepu and Taniela Tupou, and that helped them get the better of Argentina in the Rugby Championship a fortnight ago.
