HEROIC Welsh lock Alun Wyn Jones wants his team to create history becoming the first team to win a World Cup having lost a pool game.

Despite a titanic defensive effort from the second-rower, who made eight tackles which was second only to Justin Tipuric's 13, Wales saw another potential Wallaby scalp slip away.

The Osprey said: "Nobody's ever done it having come second in the pool stage.

"There's got to be a first some time, so hopefully we can do that.

"We've lost to one Southern Hemisphere team and if we want to progress to where we want to be then we'll have to potentially beat another two."

Australia were reduced to 13 men for eight minutes as Wales camped on the Wallaby line in the second half.

When asked why the ball wasn't shipped wide with Dean Mumm and Will Genia in the bin, Jones said: "I'm a piano pusher, not a piano player, so I'll leave that up to that guy.

"Ultimately, we do what we're told.

"Had we stayed there a bit longer, we probably could've got there.

"We felt we could've got more out of the driving mauls after the penalty."

Australia ran in three tries against England a week ago, but couldn't cross the whitewash against Warren Gatland's men.

"They didn't score a try, so that's a positive from our point of view, but the scoreline doesn't reflect what we wanted from the game," Jones said.

"I don't know, it's definitely the best defensive performance we've faced.

"I think you have to credit them for that.

"If we couldn't finish it I think that was more to do with them than us.

"I'm not going to be arrogant enough to say it was all us or all them, I think it was credit to their defence."

Wales now take on South Africa in the quarter final, and the 30-year-old has been doing his homework.

"Well, [I've watched them] as much as all the other teams, because I'm a rugby fan first," he joked.

"They were obviously disappointed with their loss at the start where they probably felt they faltered.

"They've grown into the tournament like a lot of teams have and you can't discount them from going further.

"We've got to take our solid defence from the last two times we've played them [into Saturday]."