Australia 'desperate' to finish tour with win over Wales - Dave Rennie

Australia head coach Dave Rennie revealed that the Wallabies are 'desperate' to finish the ongoing northern hemisphere tour with a win as they face Wales in the final game at Principality Stadium on Saturday.

Even though the Wallabies finished the Rugby Championship on a high with four wins against Argentina and South Africa and followed it with a victory over Japan, they suffered back to back defeats in the ongoing tour against Scotland and England.

A defeat on Saturday will lead Australia to their first winless tour of Europe in 45 years and Rennie is hoping to finish the campaign with a victory.

“Yes, particularly the Australians," he told AAP.

“I understand that (desperation) after a couple of losses and finding their way past Fiji at the weekend – but we’re pretty desperate as well.

“We haven’t performed as well as we’ve needed to against Scotland and England, and we’re keen to make up for it.”

With Michael Hooper ruled out due to a foot injury, James Slipper will be leading the side for the second time in his career and Rennie had high praises for the Brumbies star.

“Everyone had told me what a high character man he is, and he’s salt of the earth, really impressive. Huge amount of respect in this group and people love him,” he added.

“He genuinely cares about people and cares about this jersey, so it was a pretty easy choice to make him skipper.”