Warren Gatland talks up Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii as Wales prepare for Australia challenge

Warren Gatland says the “the game needs superstars” as Wales prepare to face Australia centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on Sunday.

The 21-year-old produced a spectacular performance in his first game of professional rugby union when Australia edged an Allianz Stadium thriller 42-37 against England.

It came less than a month after he switched codes from rugby league as he served immediate notice of his game-breaking ability and put Wales on red alert.

The Wallabies are favourites to inflict a record 11th successive Test defeat on Wales, and Suaalii will be a pivotal figure in that victory quest.

Offloading

“I think the impressive thing about him was his off-loading game – just being able to get the ball away,” Wales head coach Gatland said.

“He didn’t get a lot of opportunities with the ball in hand from an attacking perspective, but it was just being able to get the ball he got away over the top for a try and not die with the ball.

“I thought he fitted in pretty well for someone to be thrown into his first professional game at international level at Twickenham.

“I think the game needs people like that. The game needs superstars. For him to be named man-of-the-match as well, and to create that hype.

“We all know and are pretty aware that rugby in Australia needs a boost. And hopefully for him, that is the kind of boost that he may provide, particularly in Sydney with the Swans being involved in the AFL final.”

Sizeable task

Wales centres Ben Thomas and Max Llewellyn will have the sizeable task of trying to keep Suaalii in check as Australia look to make it 10 wins from the last 12 Tests against their opponents in Cardiff.

Thomas said: “I have watched a lot of him playing with the Roosters, so I knew a fair bit about him already.

“I think he probably gave us a glimpse of what we can expect on the weekend when we play against him, so it is on us to limit his time and space.

“I wouldn’t say we focus too much on containing any individual player. Pretty much every team at this level will have some star power in their back-line.

“It is probably more about containing them as a team and limiting the time and space that we give them. Those players are going to have key moments, so it’s how much we can limit their opportunities.

“They always get athletes when they get league players, so we will be aware of it.”

Wales face Australia on the back of a 24-19 reversal against Fiji, which left them still without a Test win since they beat Georgia during the World Cup pool stage in Nantes more than 13 months ago.

“Last weekend was one that we definitely let slip and it was a tough one to take, but I think the focus going to this week is a results one,” Thomas added.

“I am not sure it is a case of not having experience of winning, it’s more just being able to handle those high-pressure moments, and I don’t think that comes down to a win or a loss.

“It is about staying in that moment, and it’s something we probably didn’t manage to do against Fiji. We had two or three key moments in the last 20 of that game when we weren’t switched on or engaged, and we let Fiji off the hook.

“So it’s more of a processing thing for us and making sure that we’re in every moment and we take the most of those opportunities from the game.”