Wales backs coach Rob Howley has described Saturday's Millennium Stadium clash against Australia as "a defining game."

Victory over the Wallabies for a second successive season at home would send Wales into the 2010 RBS 6 Nations Championship with high hopes they could mount a significant title challenge.

Having beaten Samoa and Argentina on the back of a battling display in defeat against New Zealand, Wales are anxious for a successful autumn Test finale.

"We need to step up from the Argentina performance," said former Wales captain Howley.

"We need to do that at the contact area, especially from a technical point of view. Our accuracy was disappointing and we had opportunities, but on occasions our handling let us down.

"We scored three tries against Argentina and have just gone above them in the world rankings to sixth, so that is another improvement for us.

"This is now a defining game against Australia. Everyone realises we beat them last year, and we would like to think we are favourites.

"We beat them 21-18 last year, and we go into the game knowing we need to find another level if we are to repeat that.

"We are expecting a huge game, and it is really the clash of the autumn series from our perspective.

"We want to go into the Six Nations with momentum and confidence."

One player pivotal to Welsh victory hopes will be scrum-half Dwayne Peel, who starts the final Test of an autumn series he began by watching from the stands.

Peel, who plies his club trade in England with Sale Sharks, was unavailable for the 19-12 All Blacks defeat because it fell outside the International Rugby Board's Test window and he did not gain release from domestic duties.

But impressive displays in the successes against Samoa and Argentina - the latter game as a substitute - underlined his worth.

"I have just tried to focus on my own goals, enjoy it and not get too caught up in the emotion of things. Enjoying it is the biggest thing," he said.

"Over the last couple of years we've grown a good squad of players - it is definitely one of the best I've been involved in - with players in every position who can step in and do a great job.

"We've also developed a pattern of play, so we would probably expect to win every time we play at home - and rightly so.

"In the past, perhaps when we've played the likes of New Zealand or Australia, we were happy to compete.

"But we need to step up and win games like this one if we are realistic of going on and being successful in the (2011) World Cup.

"These days, the internationals against the southern hemisphere sides seem to be coming around every year, and it's a massive opportunity for everyone to play and pit their wits against these players."