Gareth Thomas says it would be “an amazing feeling” if Wales beat Australia and book a Rugby World Cup quarter-final place one game inside the distance.
Wales tackle the Wallabies in Lyon on Sunday knowing that victory would confirm one of the two qualifying spots from Pool C.
England or Argentina are then likely last-eight opponents in Marseille next month, with Wales maintaining a 100 per cent record of reaching the knock-out phase under head coach Warren Gatland during four successive World Cup campaigns.
Wales then have a break next week before completing their group schedule against Georgia in Nantes.
“When we came here we always wanted to win all the games in the group and nothing has changed,” Wales prop Thomas said.
“We’ve got the same mindset. We want to go out there and perform and get the win.
“That would be an amazing feeling wouldn’t it, getting the third win? We don’t want anything but that. We are looking forward to this weekend and then we will have a couple of days to recover after that.”
While Wales occupy the box-seat, Australia must win to have any chance of progressing from a pool that also includes Fiji, Georgia and Portugal.
A 22-15 defeat to Fiji in Saint-Etienne last weekend has elevated the prospect of Australia not progressing to the quarter-finals, which has been their minimum achievement in all nine previous World Cup campaigns.
Australia’s record in the tournament against Wales is a good one, though, having toppled them five times from seven attempts, but the latest meeting will undoubtedly see them weakened by injured forwards Taniela Tupou and Will Skelton missing out.
Thomas added: “They are always going to be dangerous when you play against them.
“We wanted to come here with the mindset of winning all the pool games, and nothing has changed for us. So whether they have won or lost, it doesn’t change anything for us.
“We take a lot of confidence from the Fiji game and Portugal game and what we’ve done all summer, really, and feel like we can only get better as well.
“We know it is going to be a big, physical contest and we are looking forward to getting out there.
“It doesn’t really make any difference to me whether they (Tupou and Skelton) are in or not.
“We’ve got our heavies behind us – Will (Rowlands) and Beardy (Adam Beard) and Daf (Dafydd Jenkins). They are all heavy boys and Christ (Tshiunza) as well. We’ve got plenty of power ourselves.”
Thomas is among 16 Wales players involved in a first World Cup campaign and he is relishing the experience on and off the pitch.
Wales assistant coach Alex King has compared the squad to a “band of brothers”, and Thomas said: “There is just something special about every game in the World Cup, so we are watching them and just enjoying them because there is a big buzz about everything.
“We have fines committees. The (latest) sheet came out with all the fines on it and Nick Tompkins racked up a decent bill.
“He wore the wrong T-shirt and he was a little bit late for monitoring after the Fiji game because his alarm didn’t go off. It’s all good fun.
“I am on environment, so making sure everything is clean and taking the empty bottles, putting them in the bin. That’s my job, the guy who tells everyone to clean up their own stuff.”
Kolisi 'had to prove himself' in landmark South Africa triumph
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi said he had to prove himself after being given the chance to lead the Springboks out in their Rugby Championship win over New Zealand.
Kolisi's early try after the break sparked the hosts' revival after they went in at half-time 9-3 down before roaring to an 18-12 victory in Cape Town.
It was the fourth successive win by the Springboks over the All Blacks, as they maintained their perfect record in this year's Rugby Championship.
Kolisi described the encounter as South Africa's most important game since they won the World Cup final against the same opponents in Paris last year.
"The coach gave me the chance when I said I was okay so I couldn’t go half-hearted. Nobody is going to celebrate you if you don’t go flat out," said Kolisi.
"We didn’t start the way we wanted to and the coach was quite honest with us [at half-time]. At the start of the second half we did what we wanted.
"This game was really big for us."
The triumph marked the first time since 1949 that South Africa have won four straight Tests against New Zealand.
However, head coach Rassie Erasmus was muted despite achieving the most successful streak against South Africa's arch-rivals in the professional era.
"It was nice, but they have had big scores against us and six times in a row they have beaten us," he said.
"It's nothing to brag about because they have done worse to us. But it was special."
South Africa 18-12 New Zealand: Springboks close in on Rugby Championship glory
South Africa continued their dominance in this year's Rugby Championship as they clinched an 18-12 victory over New Zealand in Cape Town on Saturday.
Having trailed by six points heading into the break, the hosts rallied to record a fourth consecutive win over the All Blacks and lift the Freedom Cup for the first time in 15 years.
New Zealand started brightly, with their dominance rewarded by the boot of Damian McKenzie after Jasper Wiese had been sent to the sin bin.
McKenzie converted his second penalty just before the half-hour mark as the Springboks saw some uncharacteristic errors punished.
Handre Pollard's penalty failed to change the sway of momentum, with McKenzie's third conversion of the half giving the All Blacks the advantage at the break.
But an immediate response transpired after the interval as Siya Kolisi burst over the tryline, with Pollard's conversion handing the Springboks the lead for the first time.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu extended South Africa's advantage, but McKenzie's fourth and final penalty of the encounter closed the gap once again.
However, the hosts sealed the win when Malcolm Marx powered over for a try six minutes from time to see the Springboks close in on the title.
Data Debrief: Cape Town comforts
This is the first time since 1949 that South Africa have won four straight Tests against their great rivals New Zealand.
They have also now won four straight Tests in Cape Town, and that is despite trailing at half-time in three of those four matches.
New Zealand, meanwhile, have lost three of their last four Tests, having only suffered one defeat across their previous nine matches.
Australia ease to T20I series sweep of Scotland
Australia overcame a rough start to their innings to ease to a six-wicket victory over Scotland in the teams' third T20I on Saturday, clinching a series sweep at The Grange.
Having been inspired to comprehensive victories by some expert batting from Travis Head and Josh Inglis in the first two matches of the tour, the visitors found themselves dropped to 18-2 as they chased a target of 150.
Scotland had been led by Brandon McMullen's 56 runs off 39 balls as they achieved a respectable figure despite the best efforts of Cameron Green, who finished with figures of 3-35 for the tourists.
It was also McMullen whose terrific diving catch sent Jake Fraser-McGurk walking for a duck before Head (12) swept Brad Currie's fourth-over delivery straight to George Munsey to put Australia in a spot of bother.
However, Green replicated his bowling heroics with the bat, hitting an unbeaten 62 off 39 balls to ensure Scotland's joy was short-lived.
Even the wicket of captain Mitchell Marsh, who dragged on for 31 runs from Jack Jarvis' rasping delivery in the 10th over, could not halt the tourists' momentum, and they got over the line with 23 balls to spare for just one further loss.
Data Debrief: Green shows all-round credentials
Australia's third straight victory in Edinburgh was slightly more testing than their previous two as the top order faltered, but they could count on an exceptional all-round showing from Green.
Having taken three wickets in a T20I for the very first time, he proceeded to also register his best batting performance in the format, beating his previous best of 61 versus India in 2022.
Had Scotland succeeded in setting a more challenging target, Green might have had his eyes on an even more impressive total, having slammed five sixes and two fours.
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