The Wallaroos have vowed to ‘empty the tank’ in their bid for quarter final success and a maiden win against Canada on Sunday morning.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Adiana Talakai and Georgina Friedrichs acknowledged the challenge of facing the world number two side but believe Australia have it in them to spring an upset.
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“This whole entire preparation week I never really thought about Canada,” Talakai said.
“Being number two in the world, there probably is a lot of pressure on them and I'm just looking to go out there and do the same thing.
“Do the same thing that we did to them against England and do it to Canada.
“[Set piece wise], there's always like an element of execution.
“It's not just like, oh, we're just doing a scrum just to have a scrum.
“There's a game plan to everything that we try and do. And I guess just as a unit, if one fails, then the whole thing breaks down. So we just got to make sure that we're all on top of it.”
Talakai's forwards will have their work cut out against an imposing Canadian forward pack - arguably the most imposing set piece outfit in women’s rugby.
However, should the Wallaroos maintain parity up front, the door opens for the likes of Friedrichs, who is set to partner back with Cecilia Smith after several games with veteran Trilleen Pomare.
The centre switch-up will be seamless for Friedrichs, having played with both Smith and Pomare throughout her 35-cap career.
“Obviously they're different players, but they both bring similar strong running ball game,” Friedrichs explained.
“As well as our game plan, they're ball players as well.
“So just knowing the way that they are triggers, that when they're going to run and when they're going to play, I think is important.
“We've been together long enough as a three that I think we're pretty on top of that.”
The match will be one of significance for several players, potentially serving as the last World Cup.
For Friedrichs, with that additional pressure there is only one option: empty the tank.
“I think every game we go into, we kind of want to empty the tank,” the centre added.
“You don't ever want to leave anything out there.”
