Wales rugby: Anscombe still upbeat despite pain of defeat by Fiji

Despite the loss, there were positives to build upon, particularly the early tries, though that was tinged with regret at having the third well-crafted try ruled out for Tommy Reffell’s yellow card offence.

“We did a lot of good, which is why there are positives, but ultimately we’ve talked about needing to get a win,” said Anscombe.

“We’ll be hard on ourselves because we’ve got to improve pretty quickly with two sides on the up coming in the next two weeks.”

Australia inflicted two of Wales’ last three defeats – during the summer – and have arrived in Cardiff on the back of a remarkable 42-37 win over England.

They have pulled off similar late wins at the Principality Stadium, not least in 2022 when they overturned a 34-13 deficit to end Wayne Pivac’s time as Wales head coach and open the door for Gatland’s return.

“Without a doubt the Wallabies are growing in confidence so it’s going to be a great challenge, but we’ve had success against them in the past here,” said Anscombe.

“I truly believe we will be a lot better for playing this week. A few of us have been away for a while and things were a little clunky at times.

“The southern hemisphere sides are coming here pretty battle hardened while we’re just getting back into the season. But this group gets better the longer it spends together.”