Wounded Wales and Wallaroos face off before WXV2

Women's international friendly: Wales v Australia

Venue: Rodney Parade, Newport Date: Friday, 20 September Kick-off: 19:00 BST

Coverage: Watch live on BBC iPlayer, live text and match report on BBC Sport website & app

Wales will be looking to beat Australia for the first time in their history in Friday's final WXV2 warm-up.

In a first outing on Welsh soil, both sides head to Rodney Parade wounded.

Wales were thumped 40-14 against Scotland earlier this month, while Australia lost 36-10 to Ireland.

The fixture will not only provide momentum before the teams travel to South Africa, it will also lay down a marker when they meet again in Cape Town on 28 September.

Respective head coaches Ioan Cunningham and Jo Yapp would also both love a win to build confidence in their ranks.

Since the high of the 2023 Women's Six Nations, Wales have only won three out of 11 games, while the Wallaroos have only tasted victory once in Yapp's first six matches in charge.

Both sides have rung the changes as they try out new combinations and players.

Scrum-half Keira Bevan once again leads Wales in Hannah Jones’ absence, with Rosie Carr making her first international start at hooker.

Georgia Evans and Abbie Fleming bring experience to the second row, with Bryonie King coming in at flanker.

Cunningham says there will be “no shortage of power” as he trials a new centre partnership of Carys Cox and Hannah Bluck, while Lleucu George is back at fly-half and Nel Metcalfe on the wing.

Yapp brings in full-back Caitlyn Halse for Australia on what will be her 18th birthday, while Trilleen Pomare gets the nod at centre and Layne Morgan at scrum-half.

Hooker Tania Naden has recovered from injury to start at hooker, which sees Ashley Marsters shift to the back row.

Michaela Leonard takes over the captaincy from Siokapesi Palu.

Australia are looking to extend their six-match winning streak against Wales, who return to Rodney Parade for the first time in 23 years.

Their home in most recent years has been Cardiff Arms Park.

The two sides met at the Rugby World Cup in 2022, where Australia won 13-9, and at WXV1 last November, where they edged a thrilling encounter 25-19.

Australia have since gone through a coaching transformation, with former England captain Yapp named the women’s first full-time coach back in December.

They lost all three Pacific Four Series fixtures in May, while Wales went through similar turmoil, finishing bottom of the Women’s Six Nations.

But both are building for the pinnacle of their sport, the 2025 Rugby World Cup in England, with qualification already secured.

Wales captain Keira Bevan said: “We are not too focussed on the result [against Australia]. If we get the result, great, but it is about a performance.

“If we get the performance right, the result will come anyway.

“Ideally, we do want a bit of confidence going into WXV and if we can win elements of the game, like set-piece, get dominance there, that will give us massive confidence playing them in South Africa a week later.

“We need to start winning games, but that will come when we start performing better. If we’re not performing we’re not going to win, so they kind of come hand-in-hand, but it would be nice if we could win some games.”

Australia captain Michaela Leonard said: “When you review last week's game, you can see the opportunities were there and we let ourselves down.

“If we're going to turn around and be better, we need to be honest with each other.

"It was probably a little bit hard to hear at some points but exactly what we needed in the moment.

"They're always close games [with Wales], always physical and gritty, those ones where emotions start to flare a little bit.

"We know it's going to be tough and we know we have to execute. For us, the focus will be starting the way we want to play and keeping the intensity, while maintaining our composure throughout."

Wales: Jenny Hesketh; Jasmine Joyce, Carys Cox, Hannah Bluck, Nel Metcalfe; Lleucu George, Keira Bevan (capt); Gwenllian Pyrs, Rosie Carr, Sisilia Tuipulotu, Abbie Fleming, Georgia Evans, Bryonie King, Kate Williams, Bethan Lewis

Replacements: Molly Reardon, Abbey Constable, Donna Rose, Natalia John, Alisha Butchers, Sian Jones, Kayleigh Powell, Courtney Keight.

Australia: Caitlyn Halse; Maya Stewart, Georgina Friedrichs, Trilleen Pomare, Desiree Miller; Faitala Moleka, Layne Morgan; Bridie O'Gorman; Tania Naden, Eva Karpani, Kaitlan Leaney, Michaela Leonard (capt), Siokapesi Palu, Ashley Marsters, Tabua Tuinakauvadra.

Replacements: Tiarna Molloy, Alapeta Ngauamo, Lydia Kavoa, Atasi Lafai, Lucy Dinnen, Natalie Wright, Arabella McKenzie, Lori Cramer.

Referee: Sara Cox (RFU)

Assistants: Holly Wood (RFU), Chelsea Gillespie (SRU)

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)