Australia v Wales, Sydney, June 23
Wales unchanged for Sydney showdown
ESPN Staff
June 21, 2012
Caretaker boss Rob Howley casts an eye over training, North Sydney Oval, Sydney, Australia, June 21, 2012
Caretaker boss Rob Howley will be hoping Wales can add some gloss to their tour in Sydney © PA Photos
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Wales have named an unchanged side for their third and final Test against Australia in Sydney on Saturday.

The tourists were denied an historic victory over the Wallabies last weekend by a last-gasp penalty from replacement fly-half Mike Harries whose kick propelled the hosts to a narrow 25-23 victory in Melbourne. The result gave the Wallabies an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and robbed Wales of a first win victory on Australian soil since 1969.

Caretaker boss Rob Howley has rewarded his team for that heroic effort by retaining the same starting line-up with the only change to the squad coming on the bench with Scarlets hooker Ken Owens, who started the first Test two weeks ago in Brisbane, coming in to replace Ospreys front rower Richard Hibbard, who misses out on this occasion.

"We know what we have to do to beat Australia, but there is a difference between knowing how to win and achieving that aim," said Rob Howley. "This Wales team was within around 30 seconds of beating the Wallabies on their home patch for the first time in 43 years, the challenge now is to go one better than that and make sure we are ahead on the scoreboard, not just when the hooter goes, but when the game finishes this weekend.

"The players can take some credit for the way they played for the large part of the match on Saturday, but that will be scant consolation if we don't come home with a win in this Series. We have risen to our highest position (4th) in the IRB World rankings because of our performances so far this season, which can have positive repercussions for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but now we want to stay there and that means coming away with the spoils on Saturday afternoon."

Wales:: L Halfpenny; A Cuthbert, J Davies, A Beck, G North; R Priestland, M Phillips; G Jenkins, M Rees, A Jones, B Davies, A-W Jones, D Lydiate, S Warburton (captain), R Jones.

Replacements: K Owens, P James, L Charteris, J Tipuric, R Webb, J Hook, S Williams.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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