The Wales Story

There seems to be an over-reaction on the issue of Wales insofar as performances during the last 15 months is concerned.    So lets look at it from an overall perspective:-
Springboks Games
Wales played 3 tests against SA from June 2014 to date.   The results were as follows:
June 2014         -    38 - 16 = Springbok winJune 2014         -    31 - 30 = Springbok winNovember 2014  -    12 - 6  =  Wales win
Although the first test listed was won easily by the Springboks - throughout the relative tests the Springbok Tight 5 was a mess and Meyer should bear that in mind in his team selection.
Other November 2014 tests
Australia         -    33 - 28  =  Australia winFiji                 -    17 - 13 =  Wales winNew Zealand    -    38 - 16 =  All Blacks win
The 6 Nations Championship
England          -    21 - 16 =  England winScotland        -     26 - 23 =  Wales winFrance           -    20 - 13  =  Wales winIreland           -    23 - 16  =  Wales winItaly              -    61 - 20  =  Wales win Wales ended up third on the 6 Nations log - bsed on pint difference.
Wales Test History over 15 months prior to the World Cup
Wales during the said period played in 11 tests and won 5 of those.  Most of the wins were by a narrow margin of 7 points or less and was based on strong contributions by their Tight 5 forwards and key players like Biggar, Roberts, Davies and Halfpenny - the latter was particularly prominent as a key player.
The games they won against Fiji and Scotland was not really convincing - but credit should go to the team for their wins against South Affrica, France, Ireland and Italy - the latter because of the margin of victory.
The World Cup Pre-Season Games 
Ireland             -    35 -21    =   Ireland winIreland             -    16-10     =   Wales winItaly                -    23-19     =   Wales win
Not much to go by as an indicator of their present strengths and weaknesses.         The World Cup Pre-Season Games 

The major problem with Wales is that they lost too many of their key players on account of injuries. 
Uruguay      -     54 - 9    Wales WinEngland     -    28 - 25   Wales winFiji            -    23 -15    Wales win
The question immediately arises what is their chances of beating Australia and for that the guide should be how the Aussies did in the three tests played against the countries listed:-
Uruguay      -     65     3   Australia win    England     -    33 - 13   Australia winFiji            -    28 -13    Australia win
In all three matches Australia had bigger winning margins in th games against the relevant nations than Wales had - the most significant one being the match between the two countries played against England.
Summary
Bearing in mind  -
*   the fact that in their last game against each other Australia beats Wales;*   the results of Australia and Wales in the World Cup Games thus far this tournament;*   the fact that there has been a marked improvement in the performances of the Aussie team since the coaching takrov3er by Cheika; and*   bearing in mind the key player losses of Wales as a result of injuries, 
I believe that Wales chances of beating Australia is minimal.
I did an analysis of the situation of games between Wales and South Africa elsewhere, and do not think that SA can beat Wales if players like Matfield, Jannie du Plessis and Morne Steyn is involved.