Wallabies and Wales have a point to prove

Friday's Bronze Final is shaping up as a mental test as much as a physical one with both Australia and Wales attempting to put the lingering pain of semi-final defeat behind them with a winning farewell.

Wales continue to be haunted by a last-four match they could so easily have won, despite being a man down, while Australia are still hurting that they did not even come close in theirs.

"We're in the same boat. Both teams can take comfort out of that,” said Wallabies outside centre Adam Ashley-Cooper.

“We're both hurting, we're both in the same position.”

In what they perceived as a great injustice, the Welsh were forced to play most of their semi-final against France with 14 men after having captain Sam Warburton sent off for a tip tackle which earned him three weeks' suspension.

"We feel pretty hollow with what happened last week, so it's going to be a test of character of this side to get themselves up for Friday,” admitted coach Warren Gatland.

There is no doubt Wales will have to set aside their feelings about Warburton’s red card if they are to focus their attention on taking down the Wallabies.

Jones sidelined

The loss of Warburton will be a blow to Welsh hopes for Friday’s match and he will be joined on the sidelines by Adam Jones, who suffered a calf injury early in the semi-final.

Paul James takes Jones’s spot at tighthead prop while Toby Faletau replaces Warburton at openside flanker and Ryan Jones moves into the number 8 position.

In the only other change made by coach Gatland, second row Alun Wyn Jones drops back to the bench in favour of Bradley Davies.

Prop Gethin Jenkins has been named captain and will be hoping to improve on his two previous experiences at the helm.

The 30-year-old has captained the Welsh twice before and both matches resulted in convincing defeat: a 34-12 loss to South Africa at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in 2007 and a 33-12 beating by Australia at the same venue in 2009.

A result the Welsh will be more keen to recall is their dramatic 22-21 win over the Wallabies in the Bronze Final at the 1987 Rugby World Cup – their best ever Rugby World Cup finish.

Injury toll

Meanwhile, Australia are still feeling the physical and mental bruising from their 20-6 semi-final loss to the All Blacks last Sunday and will have to overcome the challenge of the shorter five-day turnaround.

Second row Dan Vickerman (shoulder, leg and nose), inside centre Pat McCabe (shoulder), prop Sekope Kepu (eye) and hooker Stephen Moore (sternum) have all been ruled out of the Bronze Final with injuries they sustained in the brutal encounter.

Despite the lack of time to physically recover, captain James Horwill believes the short space between matches will help the Wallabies move on mentally from their disappointment.

"I think it's a good thing we're playing so soon because of the fact that you can sit and dwell on these sort of things now,” Horwill said on Monday.

“The fact that we, in four days' time, pull on the jersey and finish this tournament off on a positive note is the thing that's going to drive us.

"We want to finish this tournament on the right note and that will be by finishing third."

The experienced Welsh front row, who boast a combined 158 caps, will no doubt be looking to take advantage of their new-look Aussie opponents in the form of James Slipper, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Salesi Ma'afu, who have managed 62 caps between them.

Potent backline

But if the Wallaby scrum can hold its own, their potent backline, boosted by the return of full back Kurtley Beale and with playmaker Berrick Barnes at inside centre, will look to pounce.

In a milestone that is sure to further motivate the Australians, Vickerman’s injury opens the way for veteran second row Nathan Sharpe to return to the starting XV and claim his 100th Test cap.

Despite being denied their ultimate RWC goal, the 33-year-old was adamant his team had no intentions of taking the Bronze Final lightly.

“This game, whilst in previous years people talk about it being a throw-away game, this is going to be a full-on Test match, which it should be because we’re representing our country,” Sharpe said.

The match should provide quite a spectacle given both teams have spoken about their desire to conclude their RWC campaigns playing open, attacking rugby and have selected players capable of doing so.

"Hopefully you'll see two very good attacking sides that will try to put on a good show, have a great game of rugby and just enjoy what rugby is about,” said Australia prop Ben Alexander.

Wales scrum half Mike Phillips summed up the reality both sides face, saying: “There is nothing to lose. We can express ourselves and drop dead at the end of the game.

"Hopefully it will be an open game but one that we will finish on top.”