Wales Rugby World Cup Fixtures, Squad, Group, Guide

In Warren Gatland's last tournament as Wales coach until Wayne Pivac takes over, they are looking to give one last hurrah against New Zealand.

Wales Rugby World Cup Fixtures

Wales Rugby World Cup Fixtures, Squad, Group, Guide

Wales are looking to end their 2019 Rugby World Cup with one last win over New Zealand in the third-place playoff.

How They Qualified

Wales were one of the 12 automatic qualifiers for the 2019 tournament.

Key Players

Injuries to Taulupe Faletau and Gareth Anscombe are a blow but they are laden with stars: Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Davies, Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams…

The two men at the heart of Wales’ Grand Slam win

Pure joy: Alun Wyn Jones celebrates with the trophy after Wales are crowned Six Nations champions (Getty Images)

The Coach – Warren Gatland

This will be Warren Gatland’s last hurrah with Wales. He’s given much to the cause and brought Six Nations success. Playing style aside, a nagging negative has been results against southern hemisphere sides – but they laid their Aussie hoodoo to rest last year. What a time to do so…

Last hurrah: Gatland is looking to win the Cup as his last act with the Wales team (Getty Images)

Major Work-ons

Always competitive, Wales have an incredible defence but they need to expand their attacking game. In the Six Nations, they ranked bottom of the attack stats – lowest metres, fewest clean breaks, least defenders beaten.

Wales Rugby World Cup Warm-ups

  • Sunday 11 August 2019: England 33-19 Wales
  • Saturday 17 August 2019: Wales 13-6 England
  • Saturday 31 August 2019: Wales 17-22 Ireland
  • Saturday 7 September 2019: Ireland 19-10 Wales

Related: 2019 Rugby World Cup Warm-ups

Wales Rugby World Cup Group

Wales are in Group D alongside Australia, Georgia, Fiji and Uruguay

Related: 2019 Rugby World Cup Groups

Wales Rugby World Cup Kit

Wales Rugby World Cup Fixtures

Flashback: Australia will play Wales again in 2019, as they did in 2015 (Getty Images)

Wales Rugby World Cup Squad

Wales have announced their 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup which you can see below.

Forwards (18):

Nicky Smith
Wyn Jones
Rhys Carre
Tomas Francis
Dillon Lewis
Ken Owens
Elliot Dee
Ryan Elias
Alun Wyn Jones
Adam Beard
Jake Ball
Aaron Shingler
Josh Navidi (ruled out of the tournament because of a hamstring injury and replaced by Owen Lane on 23 Oct)
Ross Moriarty
Aaron Wainwright
Justin Tipuric
James Davies
Cory Hill (replaced by Bradley Davies after failing to recover from a stress fracture)

Backs (13):

Gareth Davies
Tomos Williams
Aled Davies
Dan Biggar
Rhys Patchell
Hadleigh Parkes
Jonathan Davies
Owen Watkin
Liam Williams (ruled out of the tournament with an ankle injury on 24 Oct)
Leigh Halfpenny
George North
Hallam Amos
Josh Adams

Related: 2019 Rugby World Cup Fixtures

Previous World Cup Results and Record

Wales’ Rugby World Cup Record: P37 W21 D0 L16

  • 1987 Third
  • 1991 Pool stages
  • 1995 Pool stages
  • 1999 Quarter-finals
  • 2003 Quarter-finals
  • 2007 Pool stages
  • 2011 Fourth
  • 2015 Quarter-finals

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