We must play for the full 80 minutes warns Neil Jenkins

Neil Jenkins insists Wales will prove they have learned from their Wallaby woes when they meet at Twickenham.
After winning six of their first eight meetings with Australia – a run that spanned 67 years – Wales have suffered a torrid tale of misfortune against bogey-side Australia in recent times.
Victories in 2005 and 2008 stand out before losing their last ten encounters. Yet it was the manner of the losses that have hurt more than the result.
Seven of the last eight defeats have been by six points or fewer due to a range of last-minutes penalties and tries, not least during the tour Down Under in 2012 and the return Test that November that condemned Wales to the Pool of Death in the World Cup draw.
But assistant coach Jenkins sees no reason why Wales cannot finally beat the Wallabies to complete a clean-sweep of the pool after wins over Uruguay, England and Fiji.
Mathematics means Wales could scrape through regardless of the result but no team has gone on to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy having lost a pool game.
“I’d like to think we are in a pretty good place at the moment. Wales have beaten South Africa, England, Ireland and France in the past year and we’ve just got to back ourselves to continue to win games,” said Jenkins, below, “When you win your confidence is high and momentum is important.
“What we’ve learned playing against the Aussies in recent years is that you have to keep going right up to the end of the 80th minute.
“We’ve got close to them on a number of occasions, but you’d have to say that despite that we haven’t been good enough to beat them.
“We’ve slacked off slightly in the 78th, 79th or 80th minute and they’ve taken advantage of that.
“We need to take a leaf out of the Australian book this week and make sure we play for the full 80 and don’t lose concentration. The game can get away from you so quickly these days and the Australians are capable of scoring time after time once they get going.
“They are an adventurous side who come with some great attacking plays. You have to be on the money from the word go and we will need all the leaders in our team to come alive and keep the mind set right.
“If you want to win the World Cup you have to beat the best sides in the world and so we just want to keep winning the games as they come up.”
Jenkins admitted he was more nervous ahead of last Thursday’s clash against Fiji than he was before the epic 28-25 triumph over England at Twickenham.
Everyone had identified the Fijians as a potential banana skin for Wales, just as they had proved to be in France in 2007, but Jenkins was more worried about the short time the players had to get over the game against England.
“I was more nervous for the Fiji game than last Saturday. They aren’t the easiest of teams to play against and they had had a good break before the game,” said Jenkins.
“They turned up and showed they wanted to play by trying to run the ball from behind their own goal line in the first minute. We knew they were up for it from that moment onwards.
“It was a brutal Test match and there were a lot of battered and bruised bodies afterwards.
“But the standards we set in winning those two games in the space of five days were incredible.
“The longer they stayed in the game, the more dangerous they got. In the end it was just about getting the job done.”
MATT LLOYD