Quade Cooper has been singled out by Stephen Jones © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Quade Cooper | Stephen Jones

Tournaments/Tours: Australia tour

Teams: Australia | Wales

Wales fly-half Stephen Jones has pinpointed Quade Cooper as a major threat prior to Saturday's showdown with Australia in Cardiff.

The Scarlets playmaker is set to come up against one of world rugby's brightest talents at the Millennium Stadium and he is in no doubt as to the threat posed by the Reds youngster, who scored the Wallabies' opener against the All Blacks in Hong Kong last weekend.

"He is a quality player," Jones said. "In a lot of senses, he is different to anything else out there. His footwork is fantastic, his kicking game is very good and he poses defences a lot of problems.

"His footwork is so good he very rarely gets wrapped up in the tackle and, because of that, he off-loads a lot. You very rarely see him die with the ball or go fully into contact with it. He just sees things very early. At the back, we've got to make sure we mark as much space as we can. We can't give this guy big chunks of field to aim at because he will make us pay."

While Jones, who will win his 92nd cap at the weekend, is all too aware of Australia's attacking nous he believes that Wales must 'get their own house in order' if they are to pick up a prized southern hemisphere scalp and erase memories of a humbling loss to the Wallabies at this stage last year.

"We are fully aware of Australia's attacking ability," Jones said. "They've got a young and exciting back-line, they play a certain style and they play it very well. But there is only so much analysis we can do in the two weeks we are together prior to the game.

"From our perspective, we need to do our homework, but get our own house in order. That's how we have to view it. First of all, we have to put Australia to one side and look at what we are good at. We've got to make sure that we are efficient and accurate. We praise them and rightly so, but we've got faith in our ability.

"We cannot be sloppy and turn ball over easily or be inefficient in our set-phase attack. Those are the areas where you get your game going. You've got to put all your regions' style of play to the back of your head and think how do the coaches want us to play, what is the most efficient way we can play and how can we beat Australia?

"We want to be sharp and play with rhythm when we've got the ball, but defensively we've got to be switched on, otherwise they will make us pay. If you look at their back three and how efficient and potent they've been since the new laws came in, they've been very good, so we have got to be smart."