Wallabies back Adam Ashley-Cooper says a disappointing loss to Wales on Sunday hasn’t dented Australia’s confidence in their bid for World Cup success.
Australia trailed 26-8 midway through the second half in Tokyo and clawed their way back to just one point down before ultimately losing by four points in a World Cup thriller.
The result means the Wallabies will likely finish second in their pool in Japan, almost certainly setting up a quarter-final clash with Pool C leaders England.
No team has won the Rugby World Cup after losing a pool match along the way and Australia will have to go through the “tougher” side of the draw now, making that challenge
Ashley-Cooper was quick to respond to a question positing that historic stat, saying the Wallabies were keen to make some history in Japan.
“I think that's the plan now, isn't it? It'd be great to be part of that history,” he said.
“We're here to win a Rugby World Cup, nothing's changed.
Ashley-Cooper said the Wallabies weren’t going to dwell on their disappointment, needing to focus on the next task - Uruguay in Oita next Saturday.
“Japan showed last night (with a win over Ireland) that it's anyone's competition up here so I think for us, we said in the change rooms there are a lot of positives that we can take away from that.
“We spoke about a few work-ons but it was there for the taking.
“I think we showed a lot of courage to come back and put ourselves in the shape to win the game.
“We got within one point, so it's a bit disappointing that we couldn't get the win with that but we've got to move forward quickly because we've got a six-day turnaround.”
Tighthead prop Sekope Kepu said the challenge of progressing was just that little bit more exciting after their heartbreaking finish on Sunday.
“We're down but we're not out, the mentality doesn't change, it just becomes more exciting,” he said.
“It’s that good ol' Aussie attitude, the underdogs, we just keep fighting and focus solely on this week.
“Uruguay, we're not thinking of anything else, just prepare well for next week.
Australia plays Uruguay and Georgia in its final two pool matches and with Japan’s shock defeat of Ireland and Uruguay’s win over Fiji already in the can, Kepu said there was no chance of being complacent.
“We're bitterly disappointed but we'll take a lot of learnings out of tonight,” he said.
“Any team on their day can do the job and Uruguay and Fiji and Japan last night, it's we just keep pushing that's for sure.”
Australia plays Uruguay at Oita Stadium on Saturday October 5, kicking off at 2:15pm local time, 3;15pm AEST, LIVE on Foxtel, Network Ten and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO,Rugby Xplorer and Amazon Alexa.
