Gareth Thomas says it would be “an amazing feeling” if Wales beat Australia and book a Rugby World Cup quarter-final place one game inside the distance.
Wales tackle the Wallabies in Lyon on Sunday knowing that victory would confirm one of the two qualifying spots from Pool C.
England or Argentina are then likely last-eight opponents in Marseille next month, with Wales maintaining a 100 per cent record of reaching the knock-out phase under head coach Warren Gatland during four successive World Cup campaigns.
Wales then have a break next week before completing their group schedule against Georgia in Nantes.
“When we came here we always wanted to win all the games in the group and nothing has changed,” Wales prop Thomas said.
“We’ve got the same mindset. We want to go out there and perform and get the win.
“That would be an amazing feeling wouldn’t it, getting the third win? We don’t want anything but that. We are looking forward to this weekend and then we will have a couple of days to recover after that.”
While Wales occupy the box-seat, Australia must win to have any chance of progressing from a pool that also includes Fiji, Georgia and Portugal.
A 22-15 defeat to Fiji in Saint-Etienne last weekend has elevated the prospect of Australia not progressing to the quarter-finals, which has been their minimum achievement in all nine previous World Cup campaigns.
Australia’s record in the tournament against Wales is a good one, though, having toppled them five times from seven attempts, but the latest meeting will undoubtedly see them weakened by injured forwards Taniela Tupou and Will Skelton missing out.
Thomas added: “They are always going to be dangerous when you play against them.
“We wanted to come here with the mindset of winning all the pool games, and nothing has changed for us. So whether they have won or lost, it doesn’t change anything for us.
“We take a lot of confidence from the Fiji game and Portugal game and what we’ve done all summer, really, and feel like we can only get better as well.
“We know it is going to be a big, physical contest and we are looking forward to getting out there.
“It doesn’t really make any difference to me whether they (Tupou and Skelton) are in or not.
“We’ve got our heavies behind us – Will (Rowlands) and Beardy (Adam Beard) and Daf (Dafydd Jenkins). They are all heavy boys and Christ (Tshiunza) as well. We’ve got plenty of power ourselves.”
Thomas is among 16 Wales players involved in a first World Cup campaign and he is relishing the experience on and off the pitch.
Wales assistant coach Alex King has compared the squad to a “band of brothers”, and Thomas said: “There is just something special about every game in the World Cup, so we are watching them and just enjoying them because there is a big buzz about everything.
“We have fines committees. The (latest) sheet came out with all the fines on it and Nick Tompkins racked up a decent bill.
“He wore the wrong T-shirt and he was a little bit late for monitoring after the Fiji game because his alarm didn’t go off. It’s all good fun.
“I am on environment, so making sure everything is clean and taking the empty bottles, putting them in the bin. That’s my job, the guy who tells everyone to clean up their own stuff.”
Marsh named captain in Australia's T20 World Cup squad as Smith and Fraser-McGurk miss out
Mitchell Marsh will captain Australia at next month's T20 World Cup, but Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk have been left out of the 15-man squad.
Marsh, who has shared the duties on an interim basis since Aaron Finch's retirement, was named the Baggy Greens' permanent T20 skipper on Wednesday.
Test captain Pat Cummins, fast bowler Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell have also been named in the squad, which features 11 of the players that were part of the team that won this tournament in 2021.
However, there is no place for former skipper Smith following a difficult spell of form, while Fraser-McGurk is also absent despite his impressive form in the Indian Premier League.
"This is an experienced squad with extensive World Cup experience that offers a variety of structures and covers the scenarios the panel believes will factor in the West Indies with the unique nature of the venues and our opponents," selection chief George Bailey said.
"Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly.
"Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover.
"Ultimately, the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign."
"It's been an immense privilege to play for my country and now an even greater honour to lead the squad to a World Cup," Marsh added.
"We have had some strong success in recent times, and I am hopeful that will continue in what looks like a wide-open tournament."
Australia will begin their tournament against Oman on June 5, while they will also play England, Scotland and Namibia in Group B.
Australia's provisional squad:
Mitchell Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Windies to test T20 World Cup readiness against South Africa, Australia in Jamaica and T&T; final squad to be named this week
With the ICC Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup now just about a month away, Darren Sammy and his West Indies team will up the tempo on preparations, before testing their readiness for the June 1-29 global showpiece, with a final warm-up match against Australia in Trinidad and Tobago.
Sammy’s final squad, which is expected to be named sometime this week, will be one of nine teams to travel to the Trinidad and Tobago in May for eight warm-up matches, four of which will take place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, while the other four is scheduled for the historic Queen’s Park Oval. The teams will arrive in twin island republic on May 21.
The revelation came from Cricket West Indies’s (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave during the recently-concluded CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, in Port of Spain.
Grave explained that the final West Indies squad will not convene in full until they travel to Jamaica at the end of May to engage South Africa in three warm-up contests. However, he pointed out that there will be a camp in Antigua prior, which will involve members of the final squad, who are not plying their trade in the Indian Premier League.
From Jamaica, the Rovman Powell-captained squad will then travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the clash against 50-over World Cup winners Australia, ahead of the tournament to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
West Indies, the 2012 and 2016 champions, are hunting a third T20 World Cup title.
“We’re going to have a week-long preparation camp in Antigua from May 12, before heading to Jamaica. We’re then going to leave Jamaica and come here to Trinidad and Tobago for a week’s preparation, including playing at the historic Queen’s Park Oval on May 30, in an evening fixture against one of the tournament favourites Australia,” Grave shared.
“That will probably be one of the only games in the warm-up schedule that will be ticketed, and we certainly hope that the fans here in Trinidad, and particularly those in Port of Spain, will come out and rally behind the West Indies in that warm-up match, which is the final game we’ll play before we head to Guyana for the opening game on June 2,” he added.
West Indies, who are drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, will open against the latter at the Guyana National Stadium on June 2.
Grave urged fans to come out and rally behind the West Indies outfit in their push to start the tournament on a high.
“Making sure we have a huge party in Georgetown, and we get off to a winning start (will be crucial). We all know in these global tournaments, confidence and momentum are important and we can think of nothing better than starting with a victory in Guyana and ending it in Barbados on June 29 with a similar victory,” Grave said.
England and Saracens number eight Vunipola fined after arrest in Mallorca
England international Billy Vunipola has confirmed he has been fined after an incident which saw him arrested in Mallorca on Sunday, with his club Saracens set to launch an internal investigation.
On Monday, widespread reports claimed Vunipola had been tasered by Spanish police in the early hours of Sunday morning, with an altercation taking place after he left a club in Palma.
Saracens later confirmed they were aware of an incident and said they would deal with it internally.
The number eight, who was born in Australia but has represented England 75 times, later released a statement of his own via his club, denying that any violence took place and confirming the police investigation was now closed.
"I can confirm I was involved in an unfortunate misunderstanding when I was leaving a club in Mallorca on Sunday, which got out of hand," that statement read.
"Contrary to media reports, there was no violence, no fight and I did not threaten anybody at any stage, with bottles or chairs or anything else.
"I was charged with resisting the law and, following an 'express trial', I have paid a fine of €240. The Spanish police investigation is now closed, and I am flying back to the UK today.
"I will obviously cooperate with the Saracens internal process and unreservedly apologise for any inconvenience to all involved."
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