By Jake Harvey - Welsh Correspondent

It’s not long until the Six Nations champions welcome the biggest names of world rugby to the Millenium Stadium and although the Welsh team will be without their Kiwi coach Warren Gatland, the average Welshman can’t help but expect at least one win against one of the ‘Big three’ Southern Hemisphere nations.

It’s always been the same. Whenever the Autumn Internationals are among us, the Welsh public truly believe that it’s going to be the year that they finally beat the All Blacks. The last time Wales achieved such a thing was in 1953, captained by the late great Bleddyn Williams. That game finished 13-8 at the old Arms Park, the closest the small Rugby nation has come since that was in November of 2004 where the game finished 25-26 to New Zealand.


Wales won the Six Nations this year, but to be honest, they didn’t play brilliantly. A lot of luck was needed and the Welsh side didn’t have to worry about any English threat as much as they were used to as England were going through a recovery process after their disappointing World Cup campaign.

Wales have never been great against Southern Hemisphere opposition, and that includes those teams not included in the ‘Big three’ such as Fiji or Samoa. However, Wales welcome just two of the ‘Big three’ to Cardiff this year, the All Blacks and Australia but after watching New Zealand in the current Rugby Championship, it looks as though Wales have an especially tough game against them.

Australia look beatable for this Welsh side. Wales played a 3-match tour in Australia this summer and they played well but they just didn’t do enough to secure any victories. This time they will have home advantage and a Welsh home crowd is always encouraging.

If Wales want to prove that their one of the best sides in the world then they have to start beating these teams. I think they have the ability but never seem to live up to the high expectations of the Welsh public.

I think it would be good for these Welsh players to get as much game time as possible for the clubs before the Internationals are among us and Wales’ stand-in Head Coach should encourage it as much as possible.

Wales’s Autumn International fixtures:
Wales vs Argentina – 10th November 2012
Wales vs Samoa – 16th November 2012
Wales vs New Zealand – 24th November 2012
Wales vs Australia – 1st December 2012

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