King hopeful Wales can 'repay fans' faith'

Alex King has played for and worked as a coach under Warren Gatland

Venue: OL Stadium, Lyon Date: Sunday, 24 September Kick-off: 20:00 BST
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Wales attack coach Alex King says he hopes his side can "repay fans' faith" with victory over Australia on Sunday.

It means a win against Australia in Lyon would guarantee Wales a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.

"It's a tough tournament the World Cup. It's fantastic and the fans make it what it is," said King.

"We're two games down, two to go and hopefully something after that.

"Only two teams have got bonus-point wins from their first two games which is us and Ireland.

"That's testament to the hard work they've put in."

Pick your Wales World Cup XV to face AustraliaFaletau coming into form as Australia loom for Wales

Australia have won one game against Georgia and lost 15-22 to Fiji in St Etienne on Sunday.

A defeat by Wales this weekend would see the Wallabies fail to reach the last-eight at a World Cup for the first time in their history.

"They'll be hurting a little bit after the weekend," King said.

"We understand that it's pretty much do or die for them."

Wales' destiny is in their control as they need a maximum of seven points from two more games - against the Wallabies and Georgia - to guarantee winning the group.

If Wales defeat Australia they will secure quarter-final qualification by definitely finishing in the top two in the pool.

That would maintain head coach Warren Gatland's impressive record of reaching the knockout phase in every World Cup campaign he has overseen for Wales.

A defeat by Australia and not picking up a losing bonus-point would mean Wales' fate being taken out of their hands as the pool stage progresses.

If teams finish on the same amount of match points at the end of the group stages, it will depend on a series of criteria.

That starts with head-to-head results before points difference, try difference, points scored and tries scored, in that order, come into play.

"That Fiji team is a strong team and it looks like they'll get 10 points from their last two games, they'll get up to 16 points," added King.

"So it's a case of how many points can we get. It was a huge challenge and it gives us massive confidence the fact that Australia couldn't quite do a job on Fiji and we did."

"It sets us up well in the pool, but ultimately this game is huge on Sunday for both countries."