Sunday's meeting between Wales and Australia will be their 15th encounter since 2009. Australia has won 13 of them. What needs to happen for Wales to get over the hump and see off the Aussies?

Let's look at three things the Welsh can do to claim victory and lock down first place in Pool D:

1.) Secure the breakdown

Australia's two best players are flankers David Pocock and Michael Hooper. Both are exceptionally good in the tackle and exceptionally good in the breakdown (Pocock especially.)

If Wales are to generate momentum going forward, it's paramount that they create clean, quick ball to work with. In their most recent outing against Georgia, the Welsh at times were bullied in the contest over the ball, which stifled some good attacking platforms. 

Wales' best attacking threats are outside center Jonathan Davies, and the whole back three of Liam Williams, George North, and Josh Adams. If Australia are able to slow the game down at the ruck, it's going to be very hard to get those four players involved. 

Warren Gatland is well aware of the threats the Aussies have in terms of poaching possession, and he'll have had the boys working hard all week to address that. 

2.) Buckle down inside the 22

After showcasing some unbelievable tryline defense throughout the Six Nations, Wales have not defended the line particularly well since. 

In the Summer Test Series with England and Ireland, the Welsh conceded more short range tries than normal. Even against Georgia, the two tries came from a rolling maul and a pick and go. 

"Australia have threats across the park. It will be an 80-minute battle," believes Wales wing @JoshAdams951.#WALvAUS promises to be a lively affair in #RWCTokyo on Sunday: https://t.co/AeUrCv9xxX pic.twitter.com/hwwBzMEg7L

— Welsh Rugby Union ? (@WelshRugbyUnion) September 24, 2019

While it didn't necessarily matter in the Georgia game, giving up tries like that against good teams will cost Wales a shot at the World Cup. Australia proved against Fiji their maul is lethal, and in close games like Sunday's match figures to be, you can't afford to allow any easy tries. 

Wales' defense coach Shaun Edwards will make sure his players are training hard to put the clamp down inside of their 22 this weekend. 

3.) Capitalize on opportunities

Nobody in the world does this better than the All Blacks, and we saw that on full display in their opener against South Africa. 

New Zealand had two first half chances to score, and took both brilliantly. It ultimately wound up being the difference in the game, and realistically the difference between seeing Scotland/Japan in the quarterfinals as opposed to Ireland. 

Against Georgia, Wales too did a wonderful job of turning chances into points. 

All too often over the years, we've seen Wales make wonderful breaks, but fail to keep ball in hand long enough to score tries. Against the Georgians, they did a lovely job of keeping the ball alive and finishing off movements with five-pointers. 

Against a team like Australia, taking advantage of line breaks is crucial. Given the players Australia have that can turn over possession at a moment's notice, it's key to be able to score when you have an opportunity rather than run through phase after phase. 

Last World Cup, Wales played Australia in the group stages and essentially lost the game when they couldn't take advantage of two simultaneous Aussie yellow cards. 

These are the times where a team has to be ruthless and rack up at least 10 points on the opposition, and not a time to play 0-0 for ten minutes. 

With Wales' strength in experience, talent, and coaching they are well-capable of putting away Australia and moving on as top of the group. Captain Alun-Wyn Jones will be at the heart of everything they do, and there's no question that the Welsh players will leave everything on the field, as they always do.