Gatland wants Wales to complete Autumn clean sweep

Warren Gatland during Wales training session

Wales will set their sights on a history-making autumn Tests clean sweep after ending their long losing run against Australia.

Tonga and South Africa stand between Wales and a first maximum autumn return.

They managed three successes from four attempts in 2002 and 2016 - New Zealand and Australia, respectively, ended their hopes on those occasions - but a 100 per cent record has always eluded them.

Saturday's 9-6 success against the Wallabies - a first since 2008 - made it seven wins on the bounce against all opponents, which is Wales' longest unbeaten run since Warren Gatland's reign as head coach began 10 years ago.

"It would be nice, wouldn't it," Gatland said, when asked about a possible four-out-of-four achievement.

"We have had a good run against South Africa in recent years, so it would be nice if we could win that one. We will have got a lot of confidence (from beating Australia).

"We will make changes for Tonga next week, and the group that played against Australia will work hard on a conditioning week.

"It is always nice to get that win against a southern hemisphere team, so there is a bit of pressure on the guys who will take the field against Tonga."

Wales' win over the Wallabies came before they meet again in a World Cup pool match next September.

"We definitely will get better as a team over the next six to 12 months," Gatland added.

"The players really do believe they can have a good autumn, hopefully a successful Six Nations and then start to think about doing well in the World Cup.

"The players will know they are good enough to beat Australia, and good enough to beat Australia when they have just come off a Rugby Championship.

"We spoke in the changing room after the game about how much we think we can improve in the next 12 months.

"We have said in the past that the more time we have together, the better we get. Having that game against Scotland last weekend was good for us and definitely improved our performance for Australia.

"There is some real momentum at the moment, and that is now seven wins in a row.

"There is a lot at stake in the next 10 months in terms of Six Nations and World Cup places. We feel we are in a really good place as a group and really looking forward to the next year."

Substitute Dan Biggar's 77th-minute penalty edged Wales home, and they now go into the second half of their autumn campaign by facing Tonga before meeting South Africa, having won four of the last five games against the Springboks.

Wales centre Jonathan Davies said: "We can keep this momentum we have built up over the last eight or nine months with the consecutive victories we have had.

"(Captain) Alun Wyn Jones' point afterwards was we expect to win big games now. We have strength in depth and confidence.

"Our record has not been good in the past, but it is a new batch of players coming through and they do not have that hanging over them.

"For us, it is about building and making sure we keep training like we have. The strength in depth and the standards we have are helping us on a Saturday."

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