CAPTAIN Sam Warburton says he won’t change his game even though he will have 6 on his back rather than 7 when Wales lock horns with Australia on Saturday.

The Cardiff Blues flanker moves across the back row to accommodate Justin Tipuric, who replaces Dan Lydiate after the chop-tackling blindside suffered a blow to the cheek against Fiji last week.

Opensides Warburton and Tipuric famously joined forces in the stunning Six Nations triumph against England in 2013 and were paired together in the World Cup opener against Uruguay in Cardiff.

Their combination with Taulupe Faletau adds an extra attacking dimension and provides plenty of breakdown menace with Warburton pledging to play his natural game.

“I’ll still try to play like openside even though I’m at 6, although naturally I might end up making a few more tackles and carries,” said the 27-year-old.

“In open play I’ll still try to hover around where Justin is because, just like Dan, he is an effective low tackler.

“Justin lifts my energy as well because you see him haring around and you want to be around him to both compete on balls and affect the breakdown.

“He has so much energy about him and I feed off that.”

The Wallabies have been denied the opportunity to field their combination of opensides David Pocock and Michael Hooper along with in-form blindside Scott Fardy.

Hooper has been banned for a week for an illegal ruck clear-out of England full-back Mike Brown, much to the chagrin of Warburton despite the Aussies being deprived of a stellar talent

“I was looking forward to playing versus both of them,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of experience playing those guys and they are two of the better opensides in world rugby.”

But he still expects a fierce breakdown battle given that the Wallabies are able to call on Melbourne Rebels scavenger Sean McMahon.

“Great challenges are what you want in World Cups,” said Warburton. “You don’t get breakdown threats as accomplished as them in northern hemisphere, so it’s great to play boys from down south.”

Whoever thrives at the contact area will go a long way towards taking the spoils and claiming Pool A top spot, thus avoiding South Africa and New Zealand in the knockout stages.

“We want to be top of the pool to say won four out of four,” said Warburton. “It’s huge motivation to end top and avoid a southern hemisphere draw, although there’s no easy way to win a World Cup.

“Australia played extremely well against England. I think they are favourites but it doesn’t bother me what the bookies think.

“It’s two squads of 23 on the day and it’s anyone’s game. Favourites, underdogs, odds are irrelevant at World Cup stages and knock-outs.

“I can’t see it being a big score either way. It’s two evenly matched teams.”