Celebrate victory, then get down to hard work – Gatland

Warren Gatland says Wales should celebrate World Cup victory over Australia, but must not take anything for granted for the rest of the tournament.

Wales have taken control of Pool D by beating the Wallabies and will win the group if they defeat Fiji and Uruguay.

Gatland’s side would then face the runners-up of Pool C which is likely to be England, France or Argentina.

“The pool is in our own destiny,” said Gatland.

The victory marked captain Alun Wyn Jones setting a new Wales cap record of 130 appearances and Gatland believes his side must acknowledge this achievement before looking to face Fiji in Oita on 9 October.

“We have got a break and I would like to see the boys celebrating and they deserve to pat themselves on the back and say well done,” said Gatland.

“It was a tough game and a great win.

“Alun Wyn Jones has become the record cap holder for Test matches for Wales and we need to recognise that because it’s special.

“But we have only won two games at the moment and make sure we do a job for the other games which we think are going to be tough.

“We can’t take any team for granted in this group and need to be as clinical as we possibly can. That is what good teams do.”

Gatland praised his side’s resilience after they led 26-8 and withstood an Australia second-half recovery.

“It was a tough match,” said Gatland.

“I thought we played pretty well in the first half and Australia were very good in the second-half and put us under a lot of pressure.

“It became a very typical Wales and Australia clash and it went down the right wire. I thought our players showed great composure.”

Biggar and Williams injury worries

Wales fly-half Dan Biggar will go through return-to-play protocols failing a head injury assessment in the first half, while Liam Williams picked up an ankle problem late on.

Gatland praised Biggar’s character after he tried to inspire Patchell and the rest of the Wales team down the tunnel at half-time.

“Dan failed a HIA and he will have to go through the protocols. I had a chat with him and he says he is feeling good, but we have to make sure we do go through those protocols over the next week,

“He was disappointed he came off, but I thought he was was brilliant in the way he was encouraging Rhys and it was important for him as well.”

‘Fantastic’ Patchell

“I thought Rhys came on and did a fantastic job for us,” said Gatland.

“He has been criticised a lot about his defence in the past and he changed a few things. His line speed was excellent and he made some big tackles and controlled the game pretty well.

“It was a big match for him to come on that early and to get a win will give him a lot of confidence.

“Liam rolled an ankle. He should be okay he will just need a little time.

“There are some sore bodies in there with a short turnaround and the players said it was one of their toughest Test matches for a long time.

“We need to make sure we recover. We have nine or 10 days until our next match so we will use that in the best way we can to freshen up the guys. It is nice to have a decent break.”

Catch up with all the World Cup news and analysis on Scrum V, BBC Two Wales from 18:00 BST on Sunday, 29 September .

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