In response, Gatland, who will hand coaching duties over to Rob Howley in next year’s RBS 6 Nations, has made four changes for the Wallabies Test – the final match of their autumn international campaign.

Gethin Jenkins, who has started the previous two games on the bench, returns in place of Paul James and is joined in the front row by Scott Andrews.

Ian Evans returns from injury to replace Bradley Davies at lock and Aaron Shingler is preferred at flanker to Ryan Jones.

Joining Jones on the bench are Ryan Bevington, Dan Biggar and Samson Lee – who will win his first cap should he be called into action.

But with a crucial top eight place in the world rankings at stake, Gatland is desperate to get a positive result.

“We need to pick up again where we left off in the second half last week," he said.

“We managed to retain 73 per cent possession after the break against the All Blacks and win the territory battle, and we need to put Australia under similar pressure from the outset.

“We have played them regularly over the last couple of years and have come close to winning on a number of occasions, but have not quite been able to get ourselves over the chalk of the finish line.

“Both sides have had injuries to cope with, but there is every reason for optimism.”

WALES:
15. Leigh Halfpenny
14. Alex Cuthbert
13. Jonathan Davies
12. Jamie Roberts
11. Liam Williams
10. Rhys Priestland
9. Mike Phillips
1. Gethin Jenkins
2. Matthew Rees
3. Scott Andrews
4. Ian Evans
5. Luke Charteris
6. Aaron Shingler
7. Sam Warburton
8. Toby Faletau

Replacements:
16: Ken Owens
17. Ryan Bevington
18. Samson Lee
19. Ryan Jones
20. Justin Tipuric
21. Tavis Knoyle
22. Dan Biggar
23. Scott Williams