The trip marked a return to the Wales squad for Thomas and Owen, who both played well as Wales came within seconds of beating the Wallabies in the First Test against them before running out of steam in the second half of the Second Test.
“I think we are more than capable of beating Australia, said Thomas. “I think we showed that in the First Test when we should have won really, it was only ten seconds to go. I can still hear the hooter in my head now, but we cannot do anything about it, we will just have to beat them next time round.
“The Second Test was a different story but we have nothing to worry about come the next game, we take a lot of positives out of it and we will do really well against them.
“It was a good experience for me after being out in the wilderness for three years, it was great to be back and I enjoyed it. It was a chance to show the coaches what you can do so it was a huge opportunity for everybody.”
Dragons No.8 Owen was equally positive about what the tour means for Wales’s Rugby World Cup hopes when Australia are the key opponents in the pool stages.
“That [Rugby World Cup clash] is the defining game, but there will be a few other tricky matches as well so we have to get through those and then the Australia game will be a massive game for us and we will have to perform,” said Owen. “If we perform well then there is no reason why we cannot beat Australia. It will be a totally new time and a one off game.
“We should have won the First Test really. It was not a great performance from us but we defended well and just could not quite finish it off at the end which is one of those things you have got to learn from.
“The Second Test was bitterly disappointing because we wanted to give a good account of ourselves and we did not really do that. We have got time now to get fit in the pre-season and have all guns blazing in the Rugby World Cup.”
