By Melissa Woods for the Australian Associated Press
03:06 26 September 2023, updated 03:06 26 September 2023
Fullback Andrew Kellaway expects Portugal to “lick their lips” over their World Cup clash with the struggling Wallabies as they prepare to meet the Aussies at their lowest ebb.
The Wallabies face a pool final with world number 16 Portugal in Saint-Etienne next Monday (2.45am AEST) and will have to pick themselves up after their humiliating 40-6 loss to Wales.
The record defeat in Lyon effectively ended Australia’s dreams of a third World Cup title, requiring a miraculous result from Fiji’s remaining two pool matches to stay in France beyond the group stage.
This will be the first time in history that the Wallabies have failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Coach Eddie Jones saw the Portugal match as an opportunity to rest his key players and give the remaining players in the 33-man squad a chance.
But with his job on the line and only one win to come – over Georgia – Jones has no choice but to pick his best player in an attempt to salvage something from a disastrous World Cup campaign.
The Portuguese will not be difficult, as they lost to unbeaten Wales 28-8 – by less than the Australians – while drawing with Georgia in their last match.
Kellaway said it would be a tough week in training after the disappointing defeat.
“Next week will definitely be a difficult week,” said Kellaway, whose first match in the tournament was against Wales.
We are hurting now and there is no doubt that Portugal has seen it and they will be licking their lips.
“For us, it’s about making sure we’ve learned the lessons because there have been some pretty huge lessons to learn but we’ve got to get on with it very quickly because there’s another game coming up.”
His message was echoed by Ben Donaldson V, who had a mixed bag against Wales with some costly errors.
Donaldson said the Wallabies would absorb the pain and then turn their focus to Portugal to try and end the tournament on a positive note.
The 24-year-old said: “We are all thinking at the moment (in Wales) and how we wanted to perform well in the World Cup and how we let everyone down.”
“Obviously we are in a lot of pain right now and we need to feel that for a while because it will make us hungrier.
“You can go into it a little bit but we have another game next week and if we don’t go fast enough we won’t do well next week.
“We are upset and the performance was bad but we are learning and moving forward.”
Watch every World Cup match ad-free, live and on-demand in 4K UHD on Stan Sport.
