London: The Wallabies have guaranteed their place in the World Cup quarter-finals, but have vowed not to drop their intensity as top spot in the pool of death goes on the line this weekend.
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The Wallabies booked their ticket to the next stage of the tournament with a sparkling 33-13 win against England on Saturday night (Sunday morning AEDT).
It sets up a clash with Wales for top of the group honours and while both teams are already in the quarter-finals, they know a smoother path through the next phase is up for grabs.
The winner of the Wallabies-Wales battle will likely play either Scotland or Japan in the first week of the play-offs with the loser set for a meeting with two-time champions South Africa.
It would also mean a semi-final against either France, Ireland, Tonga or Argentina rather than a semi-final showdown with defending winners New Zealand.
The loser of Australia's clash with Wales faces the prospect of finishing second in the group and having to topple the All Blacks just to make the final.
No team has won the World Cup after losing a game in the pool stages.
"It's a good confidence booster for us and it's pleasing," said Wallabies vice-captain Michael Hooper.
"We're starting to get to where we want ... It was pretty special to [silence the England crowd]. We knew it was going to be fairly loud but we stuck to our guns for the majority of the game and got through what we wanted."
The Wallabies started the World Cup with a mountain to climb.
World Rugby's draw system meant that three teams ranked in the top six in the world were doing battle for two spots in the quarter-finals.
England has suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first host nation in World Cup history to be eliminated from the tournament before the quarter-finals.
But interest in the World Cup is also set to suffer with English fans now choosing between Wales, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as the favourites to take the trophy.
There will also be a major economic impact after England's shock exit as the community feels the pinch of Stuart Lancaster's team's humiliation.
The draw was done in 2012 and World Rugby is set to change its protocols to avoid another pool of death situation at the 2019 tournament.
But Lancaster's job will go on the line in the coming weeks while the Wallabies and Wales battle for supremacy.
Wales has not beaten Australia in the past 10 matches between the teams, including the 2011 World Cup third-place play-off.
"It's a very difficult pool, our performance wasn't perfect and there are a lot of areas we can improve on," Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said.
"The commitment was very good and we'll be asking for more of that going forward. It's just about ourselves ... there's so much to do and we come up against the mastercoach [Wales mentor Warren Gatland]."
