HOOKER Scott Baldwin is hoping to help his Wales teammates lose their Australian jitters in Saturday's World Cup showdown at Twickenham, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Wallabies head into the clash as favourites to claim Pool A top spot thanks to a run of 10 wins on the spin against Warren Gatland's men.

Wales' last success against the Aussies was in 2008 at the Millennium Stadium and seven of the losses since then have been by a score or under.

Ospreys hooker Baldwin has only played the Aussies once – the heartbreaking 33-28 loss in Cardiff last autumn – but knows it would be a huge boost to their World Cup hopes to end the hoodoo and avoid the half of the draw containing the All Blacks and South Africa.

"I think with some of the boys it might be in their minds they want to get that burden off their shoulders," said Baldwin.

"It's only one defeat for me and it hasn't been spoken about in the forwards. But again it's not so big a burden this weekend, there's excitement going in to it.

"The match gives us the opportunity to finish top of the group and the knowledge that we've already qualified so we can play a bit more, and that's what the coaches have emphasised."

Baldwin is under pressure for his starting spot from Ken Owens but whoever gets the nod at the heart of the front row will need to produce a big performance against the resurgent Aussies.

Whereas Wales struggled in the scrum against England and Fiji, the Wallabies have made great strides under the watchful eye of Argentina legend Mario Ledesma.

Baldwin is confident that hard work on the training paddock will provide a platform for George North et al.

"It's about collective effort," he said. "I think the front row has had issues the last couple of games, but I think we showed in the Six Nations that we can we put that right.

"So it's just getting everyone in cohesion. Hopefully we can get all the cogs working this weekend and we can get parity for our backs."