Moriarty ready to smash and grab his Wales start back

The 25-year-old has established himself in Warren Gatland's XV in recent seasons, starting in 29 of his 36 Tests, but has been the victim of the remarkable rise of Rodney Parade teammate Aaron Wainwright.

Moriarty was benched for the World Cup opener against Georgia and again had to be content with adding impact in the thrilling win against the Wallabies that puts Wales in command of Pool D, and potentially avoiding England and New Zealand in the last eight.

Wainwright, Josh Navidi and Justin Tipuric impressed against the Wallabies, as did Moriarty when introduced to the action after channelling his frustration on those in gold.

"It was disappointing not to get the start, but putting that aside, the bigger picture is to help the team and make sure we prepare as well as we can and be that opposition in training," said the blindside/number eight, who moved to the Dragons from Gloucester last summer.

"To be on the bench is obviously disappointing for myself, but I know my role in the team, and when I come on the pitch it changes that mindset for me.

"I came on for 35 minutes at the weekend, and it felt like I had played the 80. Coming off the bench, I am aiming to give the boys energy and put my front foot forward."

Moriarty is confrontational on the pitch and brings that attitude to the training field.

"We want to push each other as hard as we can," he said. "Whether that's physicality, fitness, and when we have to smash each other, we just smash each other.

"It's 100 per cent going into training, because we know that is going to be the best way to prepare ourselves for tough games. I feel last week was a very big week in training, and that definitely put us in good stead for the game.

"I enjoyed that side of training last week, and that obviously showed in the game. We prepared well and we put it in on the pitch.

"We take a lot of confidence from that Australia game, but we want to go four from four in this pool."

Moriarty was a Test novice four years ago when he featured off the bench in the World Cup clashes with Uruguay and Australia.

Now he has watched with shock at how Dragons colleague Wainwright has taken the step up to international rugby in his stride.

"Aaron was still playing university a couple of seasons ago. It's unbelievable when you see where he's come from and how far he's come now," he said.

"He's got a lot of time to become a much better player and, with that experience, being around people like Tips.

"I wouldn't say myself so much but being involved a bit longer I can still help him, help him develop as a player and how he deals with pressure coming into the games.

"He's very good at knowing his roles and you've got to give him that confidence in training."