I know we still tend to hark back to the fact the 1987 Wales team secured our best ever finish in a World Cup by coming third in that maiden tournament. Having been a part of that side, I know everyone in that team wants us to lose that record. It'll be a big jump in the knockout stages, but hopefully this current Wales side can better us.
After a dominant win over Australia, Wales are now the first side in the World Cup quarter-finals. It's been some turnaround from the Six Nations and I think it just comes from going back to basics, playing to your strengths, getting the right selection at international level and then sticking to it.
We knew what Warren Gatland bases his game on - fitness, set-piece, defence and the kicking game - but the most pleasing thing for me is that, other than the Portugal game with the many changes, Wales have been clinical and tactically astute.
You'll have to be able to adapt in this tournament and Wales look like they can. Hopefully they'll finish off with a good performance against Georgia. I don't think they'll make many changes for that because you're straight into the quarter-final then. It could be Argentina in that, then potentially New Zealand or Ireland.
That would be a step up. The intensity of the South Africa v Ireland game was a level up from Wales v Australia. That's the level Wales have to get to. They already knew that though.
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The quarter-final they'll get is perhaps one of the easier draws. Everyone is complaining about the draw, but it's not our doing. It's World Rugby's doing. To the likes of Scotland and others moaning on the other side, tough luck. That's the reality of it. You can read about the criticism of the skewed Rugby World Cup draw here.
That's the way the draw has played out and you've got to play what's in front of you. They're in a good position. Now, they just need to keep on building for the next game.
Wales don't have to fear anyone. You have respect for teams, of course, just because of the rankings. If they end up playing someone on the other side of the draw, it'll be a level up. Scotland could manage to get through, you can't write them off yet.
If we reach the semi-final, it'll be a step up. You could see that from the South Africa Ireland game. That was the game of the tournament for me. The pace, intensity and ferocity of it was a different level. But let's not worry about that. We've got to worry about the next two games first.
Going back to the win over the Wallabies, it was just a brilliant performance by Wales. I thought they did exceptionally well defensively. They stuck to their gameplan with their kicking. They defended a lot. They did what they had to do.
They were tactically good. They had a great start. Also, I liked that Gareth Anscombe came on, looked confident and in control. He kept the points ticking over and even took the drop-goal when it was on. The scrum was solid and the front-five dominated.
Jac Morgan played exceptionally well. He has grown into his role as captain. He's had some beautiful kicks in this tournament that I'd be proud of. Gareth Davies was very good, while Nick Tompkins was impressive too. Everyone played well on the back of a solid performance.
The basics have been very good. They look as if they have good spirit. The communication and the line-speed has been good. That all comes from being in a good place. I think Wales are in a good place right now.
What you want though is everyone fit for the knockout stages. You look at France and how they've been hit. But they're lucky as they have strength in depth. I'm not sure we have that. At the moment, we're looking good with injuries. Hopefully, Dan Biggar will be fine and then you just pick the side you want based on the opposition.
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I think the centres have looked good. I still think we can bring the back-three into the game a little bit more. We haven't seen too much of Liam Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit and Josh Adams beyond their finishing. But I hope we can keep on building in attack, as it's been refreshing to watch.
Of course, we have to talk about Australia and how they played. The first thing is we can't take anything away from Wales. We didn't play particularly well in the Six Nations, but we now look confident, we've got a structure and tactical awareness.
The combinations look a bit better. The centres look good, there's a balance in the back-row and the half-backs are confident. Wales did their job. But I think the reason for that was because they had the upperhand in the forwards.
The Australian pack were poor. Defensively they dominated because they could not make any indentations to the Welsh defensive line, which nullified their attack. They had no ball-carriers, their scrum was gone and they had no experience at half-back to change the game.
Wales totally dominated them and Australia had no answers. That was what was disappointing from an Australian point of view. They didn't know how they were going to attack. I did a podcast with David Campese last week and I asked him where the Australian strengths were. Well, they don't appear to know!
That's what was pleasing for Wales, but it won't be the case when they come up against other sides. Even Georgia might be tactically more astute of where their strengths are.
It was just a great performance by Wales, irrespective of how Australia played. We dominated every facet of the game. And it was pleasing to see us create tries and put those chances away.
The players currently look happy and they appear to be enjoying the World Cup. I always felt we could get out of the group. Now let's finish the job against Georgia.
You can watch Jonathan on S4C throughout the World Cup, while all the episodes are also available on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer. Watch all of Wales’ games at the Rugby World Cup live on S4C.
